Box Canon Sign

Ouray decided in 1903 that Box Canon Park should be lighted as community interest in the park grew. After the Ouray Board of Trade had requested $500 in 1902 for beautifying the grounds, Mayor Charles A. Sperber presented the City Council on December 7, 1908, with the idea of erecting an electric Box Canon sign at the park. The proposed sign would display the words “Box Canon,” measure 35 feet long and 20 feet high, use letters about six feet tall and five feet wide, and be illuminated by 100 incandescent light bulbs. County commissioners were willing to contribute $125 toward the initial cost if the city assumed maintenance, and on June 6, 1909, the sign was illuminated amid fireworks and drew a large crowd. In 1934, the Ouray Herald and Plaindealer reported jokesters and vandals removing bulbs so that when lit the sign read “O NO.” A large star next to the sign was also lit with blue bulbs at Christmas for many years. According to local recollection, the sign and star had not been lighted since the 1960s, and stories told of Ouray youths removing bulbs, being discovered by their parents, and being made to climb back up and restore them. In May 2017, local residents met to consider taking the sign down, repairing it, and returning it to the mountain after more than sixty years without maintenance or lighting. Five members formed the “Five Guys and a Sign” Committee: Ralph McCormick, Mike Hakola, Louis Fogleman, Glenn Williams, and Tim Walters. With approval from the City of Ouray, the Forestry Service, a private landowner, the county, the state historical society, and the Department of the Interior, the city funded the repair. The sign was taken down in late 2017, repaired, relighted, and replaced on the mountain on June 26, 2018, fourteen months after the committee's first meeting. Vandals then stole all the bulbs from the restored sign, but they were replaced within days, and the sign remains lighted.

Ouray, Colorado · United States