At Acme, Customers are First

My first exposure to this logo was on the 2001 original version of acmecoke.com. When my friend (and Acme veteran) Steve Buckner mentioned that he had created a site near the end of the plant’s run, I went to archive.org to find it. I ended up rebuilding the site on my own server which is accessible via the link above. It was there that I first saw the red #1 as part of a few logos at the bottom of the main page.

Later, I discovered some signage at the plant in an old photo from 2004. This was on the website for The Center for Land Use Interpretation. They have a page about the coke plant with a gallery of photos taken just a few years after the shutdown. This one is sort of hidden (depending on what resolution your monitor is running), the HTML doesn’t allow this last photo to be visible and there is no way to scroll to it. This is a shame since it’s a great shot. This photo (which I have cropped, below) shows not one but two of the red #1 signs on the back of the gatehouse.

When I mentioned this logo to Steve, he showed me a custom hard hat he had made years ago for his wife (and fellow Acme alum) Sally. Her name is airbrushed on the front – and more decals on the sides!

During a routine site visit on 2/19/22 I was wandering around. With access to the 2nd floor of the main office now long since removed I was poking in the trash on the ground floor. My eye caught something brightly colored amongst some gravel – it was indeed a red #1 decal! The backing was disintegrated as was the adhesive but after wiping the front with my shirt it looked great. I put it in my pocket and a short time later came up with a plan of what to do with this artifact.

It is interesting to me that somehow I have never come across this logo on a document, or better yet a decal, when I would have to guess a great many were made. I decided this is a prime candidate for a small piece of the plant I could take with me everywhere. I have many artifacts and amazing keepsakes I have accumulated at home, but this would be something small enough and special enough to always have with me – dirt and all.

I fired up my old friend the laminator and got to work. I wanted to use some paper as matting and figured I should print something on it. I couldn’t come up with anything terribly clever so kept it simple with the plant address. I used a credit card as a template and did my best to cut it to the appropriate size. I rounded the corners with scissors free hand which was probably a mistake, but regardless it fits well into my wallet, and that was the goal.