Grady Sign Company advertisement 

This is an advertisement for the Grady Sign Company found on the front cover of a 1930 Charlotte, NC City Directory.

The Grady Sign Company was one of the first full-service sign shops in Charlotte, NC. Ernest D. Grady opened the business in 1910. Not only was Grady skilled in the art of vernacular lettering, sign painting, and silk screening, but he was also at the forefront of neon technology in the Carolinas in the 1920s.

Ernest D. Grady produced over 150 signs in the greater Charlotte area during his career for notable clients such as the Selwyn Hotel, Ford, and the Charlotte airport. Most notably, Grady made the sign for Ratcliffe's Florist in 1929, which still exists today.

Though he is merely a footnote in Charlotte's history, Grady was an incredible designer and artist during his time and even had some of his sign art displayed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art!