The sign that once graced the Guelph Mercury building has found a new home at the Guelph Civic Museum.
On July 21, crews took the sign down and transported it to its new location.
The Guelph Mercury stopped printing in January. The newspaper had been part of the community for 149 years, having been founded in 1867. Metroland Media Group, which is owned by Torstar, published the paper.
According to the Guelph Civic Museum, the Mercury office had invited them to collect items from the paper for the museum collection.
“A discussion about the sign was raised at this time and we said we were definitely interested in it,” said museum curator, Bev Dietrich.
According to Jeff Fry, the realestate agent involved in the sale of the building, the museum wanted to preserve some aspect of the Mercury because it had been such a part of the community for so many years.
“The sign is a valuable addition to the museum collection as the Guelph Mercury was an important part of Guelph’s history that is now gone. The sign with the globe is so iconic to the community and there was a lot of interest and hope that it will be preserved,” said Dietrich.
The sign is set to be catalogued and available to view online at the museum website. It will be put in storage until 2018 when there will be a newspaper exhibit at the Guelph Civic Museum.
