Neon Sign Park

THE CASA GRANDE NEON SIGN PARK received a grant from the American Express Partners in Preservation program, a partnership of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and The American Express Foundation.  Casa Grande Main Street took second place among 25 cities nationwide and was awarded $144,000 in January 2018.  Funding provided for restoration of 14 vintage and neon signs, installation and landscaping in the Arizona Plaza site in Historic Downtown, owned by the Kramer Family of Casa Grande Valley Newspapers.

The Neon Sign Park will be operated and maintained by Casa Grande Main Street, a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization working on downtown revitalization and historic preservation. If you wish to know more about the Neon Sign Park, please visit https://www.neonsignpark.com/.

Map courtesy of: Debra Jane Seltzer
RoadsideArchitecture.com

Neon Sign Plaques and Pedestals

There are story plaques and custom pedestals in the Neon Sign Park.  In addition to the plaques and pedestals in the park, one of the three wall mounted plaques tells the story of the Serrano’s who owned and operated Popular and Serrano’s clothing stores in the downtown for 63 years. The Serrano family continues today with a presence in the downtown.

Casa Grande owes its beginning to The Southern Pacific Railroad.   The custom pedestals display three of the Pueblo Deco symbols that were prominent in the architecture of our historic 1939  Union Pacific Railroad depot that was destroyed by fire June 5, 2009.  The emblems represent the diamond on stacked diamond, the truncated pyramid and diamond with running arrows.

The Casa Grande Historic Preservation Commission chose the State of Arizona with a copper patina for the plaque.  The Hwy. 84 road sign was originally in the shape of the State of Arizona until it changed in 1942.

Arizona’s five Cs (Copper, Cattle, Cotton, Citrus and Climate) have been the driving force behind Arizona’s economy for generations. More of the five Cs are planned for the park by Grande Central Station.