Johnson's sign shown in 1983. Click to enlarge.
photo by Wesley Schultz
Chattanooga businesses have had many cool signs over the years, but few as visible as the “Johnson’s This Exit” advertisement used by the Johnson’s trucking firm at 1320 East Twenty-third Street.
The landmark was constructed from a tractor-trailer rig, just like those whose drivers stopped at the location. Mounted on a steel tower forty feet high, the truck shish kabob predated similarly lofty signs along Interstate 24.
According to an October 13, 1985 Chattanooga News-Free Press article by John Shearer, the prototype of the sign was a miniature truck mailbox put up in 1952 by Doug Johnson. In an interview, Mr. Johnson said, “My father started Johnson Freight Lines at the same location, so I have been around trucks all my life. And, in 1952, I put up a mailbox that was a miniature tractor-trailer.”
The raising of the sign was announced in the October 2, 1966 Chattanooga News-Free Press. Trucking executives Tom Jenkins (president), Doug Johnson (owner), Jay Smith (sales manager), and Don T. Settles (vice-president) were photographed while standing along the eighteen-wheeler. On the side panel of the trailer, a neon sign had been affixed. The truck would also feature a Pure Oil sign above it; the petroleum advertisement was later changed to Union 76.
It was estimated that it would take two cranes to raise the twenty-thousand pound truck to the top of the post. Realizing that Chattanooga can sometimes have some strong storms, the owners made sure that the sign could withstand winds up to seventy miles per hour.
At the time, Mr. Johnson said that he only knew of one other sign like it, and that was a smaller sign with a tractor-trailer in Oklahoma. It is, however, fairly common for some automobile-related firms to hoist old cars onto a post. On Tennessee Highway 33 north of Knoxville, there is one with a red Pinto that reminds me of one of the former members of my fleet.
The Johnson’s One Stop Motor Service sign became a landmark for travelers near and far. The truck even had working headlights that were turned on at night for realism.
Some other cool signs placed at a lower altitude were:
1. The neon leaping frogs sign of the Ellis Restaurant
2. Kay’s Kastles’ giant ice cream cone
3. The Town and Country Restaurant
4. Roy’s Grill
5. The original Kentucky Fried Chicken signs, with the revolving bucket
6. Krystal’s crystal ball
7. Coca-Cola sign at the south end of the Chief John Ross (Market Street) Bridge
8. Fleetwood Coffee headquarters on East Eleventh Street
9. Pete’s Cider on US 41/72 in the Tennessee River Gorge
10. Mr. Peanut
If you have memories of any of these signs, please send me an e-mail at jolleyh@bellsouth.net.