Namesake sign found by chance

NEW ULM -- Ulmer Cafe owner Dave Berg came across a namesake sign for his restaurant quite by chance.

Last year, Berg was contacted by a Twin Cities man who came to New Ulm to shop at antique stores.

"He was looking for a Schell's (beer) neon sign, which he eventually found," Berg said. "He wanted to know if stores were interested in the Ulmer sign he had. I suppose he wanted to trade it for a Schell's sign. No stores wanted the Ulmer sign, so they sent him over here. The man deals mainly with neon signs."

Berg bought the sign earlier this year and took it to Mike Mason at Sleepy Eye Stained Glass to have it refurbished.

"Mike told me it would take him about four months to rebuild the sign, but he had it done in about six weeks. He really liked working on it. He said he had seen very few of its kind," Berg said.

Mason straightened, releaded, and cleaned the sign. He put a wood frame around it. He replaced some of the glass along the outside edge which was too old to match. The inside of the sign is still original.

The sign is over 100 years old and was built by a West Virginia firm, according to Berg.

The Ulmer sign was one of four of its type. The Twin Cities collector got it from another collector; the latter found the signs on the East Coast. The other three signs, still owned by the Twin Cities man, said "Cafe," "Beer," and "Wine."

"The thing unusual about it was that it said 'Ulmer'," Mason said. It was a typical store-front-type sign at the turn-of-the-century. It was a niece piece."