Anyone traveling along U.S. 69 at Shawnee Bypass will soon be greeted by a new “Welcome to Muskogee” sign.

It won’t be overlooked. The new sign will be 15 feet tall and 20 feet wide. The brick, wood and plaster sign will be fully illuminated at night; a shining, friendly gesture to anyone traveling along the roadways. Located just south of the Muskogee Information Center on the west side of U.S. 69, the $34,000 structure is a project of the Greater Muskogee Area Chamber of Commerce. It will also bear their distinctive “Okie from Muskogee” logo.

The committee studied entry signs all over Oklahoma and some out of state. During the final stages of design, they came up with a series of renderings and displayed them on a computer screen so they could make changes while the committee was sitting there.

Mark Wilkerson, director of the Muskogee Parks and Recreation Department, said people entering town on U.S. 69 don’t get a visual impression that tells them about some of the best parts of the city.

He said he likes what he has seen of the sign’s design.

“It’s something we’ve needed for a long time,” Wilkerson said. “A good, tasteful sign would help with depicting what’s good about Muskogee. That’s a good intersection there. You’ve got Oklahoma 62 and U.S. 69, and the hotels nearby. I saw one of the renderings and it did look really first class.”

Mike Martin, an architect with Spaces Design and Architecture, and a member of the chamber, said a lot of group effort went into the sign’s look.

“It took about six months of the sign committee at the chamber talking about and working on the signage,” he said. “Our company is a chamber member, so we gave them our services on help with the design and with the renderings. We sat down with the sign committee fine tuning the design itself as a committee effort.”

Martin said the brick, donated by Boral Bricks, at the base reflects the buildings in the downtown area, as does the cornice on the top of the sign. The plaster work helps the lettering be more readable.

“The concrete is already poured,” he said. “We can finish it in a month if there is no more rain. FRC Construction is our general contractor. OG&E; is assisting us with the electrical service so it won’t cost so much.”

Martin said the chamber has a long-term goal of having similar signs at the south and east side of the city.

“I think the end product is a good crisp presentation of what is good about Muskogee,” he said.

Ann Ong, vice president of Cardiology Clinic of Muskogee and member of the chamber’s sign committee, said that considering what they had to spend and the available resources, she is proud of the sign.

“We wanted it to really be representative of Muskogee’s future, and establish our own identity,” she said. “When people were coming to town, a lot of them didn’t know where the town began. This sign lets people know, ‘This is where you are. Welcome.’ Some people on the committee wanted an old fashioned sign. It’s important to have a sense of history, but you have to use that history to propel you into the future.”

Reach Keith Purtell at 918-684-2925 or Click Here to Send Email