SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Realtor and homeowner Clayton Carson purchased a home hoping to live in eventually, but after a surprising discovery, he has reconsidered the move-in date.
Carson asked his friend Brandon York, of Cornerstone Flooring, to help him with the renovations at the home in Springfield, Missouri.
“And for me doing professional flooring, I always like to take everything back to the original subfloor so that that way I can warranty everything from the subfloor up. So I was like, hey, this is very easy to pull up. So let’s just … I’ve got an hour,” said York. When York pulled the flooring to the subfloor, he discovered brightly colored wood.
“So, we started pulling the black part, tar paper up, and then we started seeing all of the signs, and we’re like, ‘this is something to behold,'” York said.
To Carson and York’s surprise, the entire floor of the room was made of multiple business signs.
The signs consisted of advertisements for Ford, Brooks Potato Chips, Hoover’s, Murray & Kent Insurors and more.
“We went from working pretty quick to vigorously trying to clear it out of the way so we could actually see what all was underneath it because it was … very, very literally uncovering treasure for sure,” Carson said.
After taking a few photos of their find and posting them online, several members of the community chimed in the comment section on Facebook to share their knowledge of the businesses.
“With how much outreach there was after posting it for less than a day, you can just tell that it resonates with a lot of people … There was a guy on there, and I couldn’t tell you his name now, but he thinks his grandpa was the person who painted these signs,” Carson said.
Carson and York believe the signs are seat backs to old benches at bus stops.
Carson said he does intend on making the home an Airbnb eventually, but the amount of time and money it would take to epoxy the floor is not something he wants to tackle. Instead, he intends to give York one sign, keep a few for himself, and give the rest to local historical groups.
“It’d be cool to be able to put them up somewhere so people can actually enjoy them,” Carson said.
“It’s been really neat to see that take a life of its own too, and people reminiscing and knowing exactly what they are and being a part of some of these businesses back in the day. It’s just, it’s really neat,” York said.