In 1991 the late Paul Wilson worked with the JHS student council to purchase the Indian Territory sign that has hung in front of the high school for over 30 years. In 2022 JHS administration asked 2nd year shop teacher Justin Holland if it would be possible to salvage or replace the sign. “My first thoughts were, that the sign was a complete loss. It was so bug eaten and rotted from years of weathering. I told them they’d be better off trying to do something new.”
Holland looked into the possibility of doing a light weight concrete cast of the original sign, but was unable to find anybody in the area that was willing to take on the project of do it for a reasonable price. “I knew the original sign was going to be hard to replace. It has a unique shape and its history around here. A lot of us graduates have memories of driving past that sign everyday going to school. It’s a unique feature.” Administration continued to express interest in restoring the sign so Holland took the sign down and moved into the wood shop. From there he called the previous wood shop teacher and his personal friend Paul Steffeck to look at the sign and see if it was going to be worth the time and effort to restore the sign or if they should start from scratch. “I really didn’t think there was much of the old sign that was worth saving, but Paul had a glimmer in his eye and he said he felt it could be saved. I bowed to experience and we dug in.”
Over the course of the next year between teaching classes, working as a coach and his and Mr. Steffeck’s free time they set out to restore the sign. Hundreds of hours went into removing rotted and bug eaten material milling up replacement lettering, pouring gallons of epoxy, making the new 3D logo, sanding, staining, weatherproofing and more. “You have to remember, there were a lot of techniques that went into restoring this sign that neither Paul or I had experience in. It was a learning process the whole way.” Students also had a hand in helping bring the sign back to life, helping with sanding, staining, lifting/resetting the sign and more. “The students would get aggravated at me throughout the build because it wasn’t a project you could work on everyday or even all day. Especially when it came to the epoxy pouring and curing, and then later waiting for varnish to dry. Some of those processes just aren’t that exciting or can be done every day. You have to work the process.”
Now a year later the INDIAN TERRITORY sign is back flying in its regular perch in front of the school. “I had a lot of people ask me when the sign would be done, and I had to keep telling them it would be finished when it was finished. Honestly, there were times I thought I might never get it out of the shop, but I’m glad it is done and it looks great. I know how much history and tradition mean to this community and I hope they understand we did everything we could to keep the spirit of the original sign while moving it forward for a new generation of Jourdanton graduates.”