Last year, the Southern Illinoisian ran an article about the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency asking residents to help compile a list of all Mesker stores in the state.
A Mesker storefront has a "distinctive ornamental iron facade or storefront components. These were mass-produced by the Mesker Brothers in St.Louis and the George L. Mesker Co. in Evansville, Indiana.
They have a map of every known Mesker in the state at www.gotmesker.com. The website will also teach you what to look for.
This was a popular way for store owners to fancy up the front of their stores in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Even more enticing, it was comparatively cheap.
So far, 570 have been identified in Illinois and over 2,600 on the national map. At one time, 45,000 stores sported Meskers.
Got Mesker? No, I Got Milk. --RoadDog
RoadDog's RoadLog Blog: Being my travels down those great two lane highways of this nation as well as news I learn about them from media sources. Since I'm also very interested in historic preservation, there will be a lot of that as well.
The Shamrock Court Motel in Sullivan, Missouri. It can be yours for $125,000. Lots of possibilities. Actually, now you're too late. Missouri's Roamin' Rich bought it.
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