After years of planning, The Orpheum Theater will have a new marquee sign by May, modeled after the historical landmark’s original sign created in 1927.
Orpheum co-owner Henry Duane has led a campaign to “relight the Orpheum marquee” since he took over the theater in the ’90s. Dan Yoder, owner of Sign Art Studio, said he took an early interest in restoring the Orpheum’s historic sign and personally reached out to the owners, who hired him for the job the next day.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, has been involved with the building of the sign and said he, like many other community members, is eagerly awaiting the installment of the new sign.
“The Orpheum is a Madison gem,” Verveer said. “It’s taken different forms, but throughout its entire history, the Orpheum has been a central part of Madison’s community.”
The sign, which will be 55-feet tall and 10-feet wide, will be an exact replica of the Orpheum’s original sign, which was taken down in the late ’50s. Since the historic sign is lost, Yoder and his team built the sign based off old photos. The team, whose past experience includes creating signs for Lambeau Field and the Green Bay Packer Hall of Fame, was committed to replicating the sign perfectly, going as far as to count each lightbulb in the original photo, totaling 2,000 bulbs.
Yoder said the most challenging part of building the sign was its impressive size, which meant his team had to construct the sign in six different sections. Yoder said he still enjoyed the chance to work on the project.
While the community’s reaction to the new sign has been overwhelmingly positive, some people have been less than enthusiastic about replacing the Orpheum’s sign, Yoder said.
“There’s a few who don’t want to take down the iconic Orpheum sign, but you know, it was rusty, it was falling apart, it was not safe and it was just an old sign that wasn’t even the original sign to begin with,” he said. “So we’re bringing the original back.”
Verveer said part of the funding for the new sign, which cost roughly $200,000, came from the Madison Trust for Historic Preservation. The organization had a fundraising campaign for many years that allowed community members to make tax deductible donations to go toward the cost of restoring the marquee, Verveer said.
Yoder said his team feels proud to be involved in the restoration of the local and historical landmark.
“That sign will be in people’s wedding photos for the next 100 years,” Yoder said.
