Cincinnati’s American Sign Museum celebrates commercial sign

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Local hidden gem: American Sign Museum, Cincinnati

The building can be a bit hard to find, tucked away in the industrial Camp Washington area of Cincinnati. However, the American Sign Museum is a gem dedicated to the art and history of commercial signs and their creation.

“We are the largest public sign museum in the country,” executive director David Dupee said in a recent telephone interview. “Our mission is to celebrate the history of America’s signs through education and preservation.”

Step beneath a giant statue holding a welcome sign into a sea of neon lights. The museum — which welcomed 60,000 visitors in 2023 — spans more than 100 years of American sign history in an expanded 40,000-square-foot space.

New museum wing with double sign expands its “Main Street”

On July 13, the museum opened a new wing, doubling its space and making full use of the building’s existing space.

Dupee said the expansion includes an extension of the museum’s Main Street, the museum’s main exhibit recreating a nostalgic slice of Americana.

“It really gives Main Street a feel of memories and reminiscences,” he said.

In addition to new signs along the Main Street extension, the new space will include a 300-person event space, a classroom and a theater. Dupee said the theater is a recreation of an old movie theater that uses a New Hampshire tent. It could be used as an educational space as well as for private events.

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The History of the American Sign Museum

The museum was founded in 1999 by Tod Swormstedt, a former editor of Signs of the Times magazine, as the National Signs of the Times Museum. According to the museum’s website, it was a self-described “midlife crisis project” for Swormstedt, who spent 26 years at the magazine.

As support grew, the museum was renamed the American Sign Museum in 2005 and reopened in the art center. But space was tight, so the museum found a new location in the century-old Oesterlein Machine Company-Fashion Frocks, Inc. Complex at Camp Washington. The new location opened in 2012.

David Dupee, who has been with the company since April, brings with him experience in running small businesses and running entrepreneurships.

Dupee joined the museum as executive director in late April and since then his primary responsibility has been to launch the new wing.

When he joined, he said he was surprised at how close the new wing was to the finish line. The museum’s $5.4 million capital campaign had been completed, and construction was nearly complete.

“It’s a credit to the team that was here,” Dupee said, including Swormstedt.

According to an article in Sign Builder Illustrated, Dupee, an attorney and Cincinnati native, has spent the past 10 years “helping launch and scale mission-driven organizations.” Dupee co-founded Good City Brewing in Milwaukee and advised the Wisconsin Legislature on a bill creating the first intrastate crowdfunding exemption, which allows companies to raise up to $1 million from state investors through crowdfunding portals without having to meet state registration requirements.

Those entrepreneurial experiences have given Dupee a sense of the challenges of growth, which he plans to apply to the museum’s expansion. Growth is exciting, he said, but it has to be mission-driven growth, and his plan is to help cast a vision around the new wing.

What’s next for the American Sign Museum?

During his first few months on the job, Dupee focused on getting the new wing ready for takeoff. With its opening, Dupee is turning his attention to the future.

He’s focused on creating a new strategic plan for the museum, he said. But he’s giving it a few months to start, to see how visitors interact with the new collections in the new space.

Dupee also wants Cincinnati to be more visible in the museum’s brand, which will help solidify the city’s position as a signage and branding center.

“We want to connect with our Cincinnati roots,” he said.

How does the museum acquire its exhibits?

The museum is looking for signs to add to its 4,000-piece collection and is donating them, Dupee said.

But the vast majority — Dupee estimates about 95 percent — come from the company’s founder, Swormstedt.

“He really has a vision for our collection and how we approach exhibiting and acquiring new pieces,” Dupee said.

Which signs in the collection are the best?

Everyone has a different opinion on what makes the best sign in a museum, Dupee said. Often, it’s something that resonates with their past or has historical significance.

For Dupee, it’s the Howard Johnson’s sign in the original wing. The sign is near and dear to him, he said, because of the years he spent in Connecticut stopping at HoJo’s.

Another sign — this one in the new wing — that has a personal connection to Dupee is the Johnny’s Big Red Grill sign in Ithaca, N.Y. It’s 21 feet tall and dates back to the mid-1950s, when Dupee’s grandfather was a student at Cornell University in the city.