Iconic Waltham Sign To Get A New Life As Welcome Sign

WALTHAM, MA —An iconic North Waltham was set for the scrap yard before it was rescued five years ago. Recently, it was hoisted up by crane to overlook Falzone Field on Trapelo Road as a welcome sign. It's a hat tip to the past and to the neighborhoods surrounding it for the foreseeable future.

"It's just one of several signs I call icons of Waltham," said City Councilor George Darcy, who was behind the push to save the sign.

Anyone who spent time in Waltham between 1955 and 2015, will likely recognize the old Glendale Bottled Liquors sign. "Glendale" is written in white cursive across seven evergreen trees —one for each of the storeowners children. Before its makeover it had "Bottled Liquors" written beneath in and sat atop 1093 Lexington St. until 2014, when the shop went out of business.

It wasn't until Macy's the new package store opened in the same spot, that the 11-foot tall, 19-foot-wide sign came down. The day it did, Darcy happened to be driving by. Curious, he pulled over to ask a truck driver where it was headed.

When he found out it was headed to New Hampshire to essentially become scrap, he made a few calls and set to work figuring out how to bring the piece of pop history back to Waltham.

Waltham resident Kathleen Dooher, too, pulled over to see what was happening. "George was there and we got to chatting about it," she told Patch. "I thought he had great forethought on this project, and that he pursued it to connect all the folks and the means to help salvage and re-use this urban artifact."

After six-months and about $450 it returned to the city where it sat in a city yard until Waltham's CPW department were able to repair and repaint it.

"They fixed some of the cracked wood, they repainted it and replaced the 'bottled liquors'," Darcy said.

It was saved in 2015 and now, more than five years later, polished, repainted and repaired it was quietly been installed at the James P. Falzone Field on Trapelo Road, just across from the Our Lady's church.

Darcy says there will be a welcome to Waltham message inserted in its lower half, and eventually a little plaque will be added to note its history as nod to a neighborhood.

"It is of geographical importance because it describes the geographical area it's in," Darcy said. "Glendale is the valley between Glenmeadow East and Glenmeadow West."

And it has historical significance, he said, for just being in North Waltham for so long.

The Williams family had the sign made for the package store more than 65 years ago. The pine trees in the sign were said to represent each of the family's seven children. Former Ward 7 city councilor Joe Giordano's wife is one of the children.

"It continues the history of Waltham and makes w unique. we're very fortunate to have a lot of history in Waltham dating back to the 1600s and 1700s," said Darcy. "Some of the history is in the shape of buildings and structures but there are also signs that have significance."

Got a tip? Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna). Have a press release you'd like posted on the Patch? Here's how to post a press release, a column, event or opinion piece.