Featured Project: Clabber Girl Billboard Returned to Her Former Glory
When The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology acquired the land the billboard sits on from the family of the company founder, it knew it needed to restore the landmark.
This featured project was first reported on last November, when it was announced it was going to happen. Now that it’s done it’s worth a follow-up look.
Terre Haute, Indiana, is the home of the iconic double-acting baking powder, Clabber Girl Baking Powder, and a billboard marking its importance to the community has been up just outside town for decades.
The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, a local learning institution, and the comp;any enlisted local artist Becky Hochhalter, owner of Terre Haute’s Studio 32 Art and Photo, to restore the historic billboard and its clock.
“The billboard, with its large clock on top, has been an important part of the community. People really missed it during the restoration process,” says Rose-Hulman president Robert A. Coons. “We wanted the billboard restored to its original glory.”
The 44-foot-long billboard along U.S. 40-the Old National Road-on the eastern edge of Terre Haute has welcomed visitors to the city for more than 80 years. It is believed to be the oldest billboard in existence in Indiana and, with its large clock, one of the first electric billboards in the country.
Rose-Hulman took over ownership of the sign in the fall of 2017 as part of the institute’s purchase of more than 1,100 acres of property from the Hulman family, founders of Clabber Girl.
Hochhalter repainted the sign with the same colors and images-the Clabber Girl Baking Powder logo, container and the words “Five Minutes to Terre Haute … The Home of Clabber Girl Baking Powder.”
Clabber Girl Baking Powder, launched in 1899, is the top-selling baking powder brand in the United States, according the Clabber Girl Corp., which has its headquarters in downtown Terre Haute.
