This article is reprinted from January 2016
Ghost signs. Paducah is haunted by them. Stand just about anywhere in downtown Paducah, look up, and you’re likely to see one.
Ghost signs, also called fading ads, are the old, painted advertisements on the sides of buildings, most often on brick. It’s believed that the signs have endured for so long (often for more than a century) because of the lead used in early 20th century paint.
Paducah has some striking ghost signs, including General Electric, Rhodes Furniture, Mail Pouch Tobacco, Bruton’s Snuff, Coca-Cola, and Dr. Bell’s Pine Tar Honey (which the library has previously written about). But one of the more historically interesting ghost signs in our midst is one that perhaps goes largely unnoticed. Formerly “The Fabric Store,” the large vacant building at Third and Kentucky has several signs along its side, yet the images are so faded that one could miss the fact that anything is there at all.
But if you squint and stare and tilt your head at just the right angle, you can just make out what remains.
THE PIANO COMPANY
The whole wall is tough to read, but this is perhaps the toughest. In very faint white letters across the top are the words “L.E. Girardey & Co. Pianos.”
In the early 1900’s, Leo Edward Girardey wasn’t just a dealer of pianos but a manufacturer of them, crafting his instruments by hand right here in Paducah. His first factory at Seventh and Washington streets was damaged by fire in January of 1897 after the explosion of a stereopticon lamp. He then moved his business to Seventh and Kentucky, and finally to the location of the ghost sign at Third and Kentucky in August of 1904. In this large factory space, he could craft up to forty pianos at a time.
The Paducah Sun said of his craftsmanship, “The Girardey piano is not made in very large numbers, but the piano is strictly up to date as any made, and has many unique features, original with Mr. Girardey, which, in fact, make it a most superior instrument in every way.”
His wife, Carrie Girardery, was a successful business woman in her own right. For a while, she was Paducah’s most prominent milliner, a maker and seller of women’s hats, and operated her enterprise out of Rudy’s Department Store.
Further noteworthy is Leo Girardey’s father, Major Isadore Girardey, who came to live with his son in Paducah at the end of his life. A confederate general, Major Girardey was credited with once building and operating the largest opera house in the South (located in Augusta, GA), as well as inventing an artificial cork leg and a fuse used in bombs during the Civil War. The Girardey Fuse better insured that bombs didn’t explode prematurely and that they exploded much more reliably when appropriately percussed (i.e. they blew up better when you threw them). Isadore Girardey died in Paducah in 1898.
Leo and Carrie Girardey left Paducah around 1913 and headed west to Santa Barbara, California where he continued to construct pianos.
THE WOMAN’S TONIC
Next, take a look between the two windows on the upper left hand side of the Third and Kentucky building. In black letters you should be able to make out the words, “The Woman’s Tonic.” In addition, on the far right hand side of the building at the very top in yellow are the letters that spell out that brand of tonic…CARDUI. Manufactured by the Chattanooga Medicine Company, Cardui (sometimes called Wine of Cardui) was developed and marketed specifically for womanly health issues, and claimed to “relieve pain, correct derangements, quiet nervousness and cure Whites, Falling of the Womb and Suppressed or too Frequent Menses.”
So, was it just snake oil? Cardui purported to contain the ingredients Black Haw, Blessed Thistle, and Goldenseal. According to WebMD, the shrub Black Haw was traditionally used to treat cramps and relax the uterus, the flowering tops of Blessed Thistle treated diarrhea and indigestion, and the herb Goldenseal helped with a laundry list of ailments: whooping cough, ringworm, urinary tract infections, menstrual problems, gas, and the common cold.
Perhaps, then, Cardui did offer some relief, though the fact that it also contained 19% alcohol didn’t hurt either.
THE BULLSEYES
Finally, the last visible ghost sign is perhaps the most mysterious. Bridging the second floor windows in the center of the building are the words “Smoking Tobacco” and beneath the letters are the images of two bullseyes which look similar to the current logo for Target Stores. Truth is, it’s not clear what tobacco brand is being advertised here and if the bullseyes are a related logo or simply remnants of a different sign. We’ve conjectured the sign might refer to Bull Durham or Lucky Strike Tobacco, but we’ve yet to find any historic company that used that specific logo in its advertising. (Since the writing of this article, we’ve been informed that the bullseyes were part of a logo for Red Spot Paint.)
The ghost signs on the Third and Kentucky building have nearly faded to the point of illegibility. Luckily, enough remains to still provide us with a few clues to some interesting history. But it makes you wonder about what was once pictured there that we simply can’t see anymore. If anyone happens to have a historic photo or memories of the sign that would provide more information, we’d love for you to share.
For more about local signs, follow this link to view photographs for signs from West Kentucky or visit us in the Local and Family History Deparment at the McCracken County Public Library.
–Matt Jaeger