Ed Dodge, Hank Poeschl, and Mark Sigler were hard at work this winter, restoring and hanging an iconic storefront sign from the A. W. Miles Company Store, which used to stand on Livingston’s Main St. The restoration project has been in the works for several years, ever since the hand-painted, navy-blue sign was found in the basement of the Company Store’s old building, which at the time was Gateway Office Supplies.

Dodge and Poeschl say that, even with the help of YGM Executive Director, Mark Brammer, and several other volunteers, it took half a day to get the enormous, disassembled sign out of the basement and another half day to get it clean. Then Dodge and Sigler, along with Mike Palmer, stripped the original wiring and cleaned and tested each of its 123 sockets. Dodge estimates that each man spent a full day on the task. Ever since, Dodge, Poeschl, and Sigler have been adding new wiring and mounting the sign – estimated to weigh 300-400 lbs.– in the museum’s Yellowstone gallery, where it illustrates an important chapter in Park County’s impressive history of commerce and tourism.

Arthur Wellington Miles (1859-1933) was one of the most prominent entrepreneurs in Park County’s early history. He co-owned stores in Gardner, Big Timber, and Red Lodge, and he founded several businesses in Livingston, including the A. W. Miles Coal and Lumber Company, the Miles Land and Investment Company, and the A.W. Miles Company, which was an early department store and the original home of the museum’s hefty new sign.

Miles and his family lived in Livingston, on West Lewis St., in a home that is now called the Talcott House, and he was instrumental in constructing the town’s early commercial district. He built the Miles block, which burned down in the early 1900s, and then teamed up with Livingston mayor and cigar manufacturer Charles Garnier to build the Miles-Garnier block.

Although Miles operated out of Livingston, he became president of the Yellowstone Park Camping Company, which began as the Wylie Camping Company and which offered tent accommodations, provisioned with camping equipment, as an alternative to hotels within Yellowstone National Park.

Beyond his role as a businessman, Miles was the first mayor of Livingston, beginning his two terms in 1887, and he also served for four years as state senator of Park County.

We look forward to seeing how else this exceptional historical artifact can illuminate the history of Park County!

(Nava Streiter, curator)