LINCOLN PARK — The last-remaining famous A. Finkl & Sons sign came down last week and will soon be scrapped unless someone expresses in an interest in acquiring it.
That's according to property manager Bob Abruscato, who said it's the last of four — likely aluminum — signs that were once attached to the big, white arches that stood at the entrance points at the former North Side steel plant.
The sign lying on the grass, seen last week. [Courtesy/Keith Sullivan]
The blue signs attached the arches, seen during demolition. [Both photos DNAinfo/Paul Biasco]
The industrial blue sign reads "Since 1879" on top and "A. Finkl & Sons" on the bottom, with its signature "F" logo in the middle. Finkl Steel was founded in 1879, and moved to the North Side in 1902.
The arches went up in the early 1990s, when the city sold Finkl a portion of Southport Avenue.
"They made it a campus, they put those up as a gateway into the property," said Abruscato, who has worked for Finkl for 28 years.
Since March, the North Side site has been under demolition. Finkl's operation has moved to the South Side, but the folks over there didn't want the signs, Abruscato said.
While the property manager couldn't say for sure, he said that's probably because there's only one entrance to the South Side facility.
"I don't think they would have much use for them the way it's configured now," he said.
Whereas on the North Side, the Finkl plant was "a campus and a neighborhood thing. They did it for beautification to signify" the plant, he said.
Interested in owning the industrial sign?
Abruscato said his team is open to either donating the sign for community purposes or selling it an individual for a nominal fee instead of throwing it out.
What will happen to the roughly 28 acres of prime real estate at the site of the former A. Finkl & Sons Co. steel plant is a burning question in the neighborhood.
Community leaders say whatever is built in its place — which has yet to be revealed, though there have been speculations — will shape the future of the neighborhood.
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