The inspiration for the “celebration” piece of our 2022-2023 museum exhibit, “Maps, Signs and Celebrations Part!” is the large sign pictured with this article. I first saw this sign a year or two ago in the barn at the Hartley-Rhodes cranberry bog. The sign evokes Rochester’s history which has been celebrated many times since it was incorporated in 1686. Walter Hartley was kind enough to loan it for our exhibit.
I don’t know if this has ever happened to you. You come across a reference to something that you’ve never heard of. It might be a dog breed, a name, a brand of beer, or a town. Suddenly, whatever that thing was, you see it everywhere. That’s what happened to me with the painter (Charles T. Matthews) of our sign.
The first time I heard his name was when I asked who painted the sign. As I continued to put the exhibit together, I came across a large double-sided sign used by the historical society when they had a craft guild in Sam Corse’s old office. It was painted by Mr. Matthews. Next, I found a Standard Times article about him from 1979 and then one of our members said that he had spent one summer working for Mr. Matthews.
It turns out that Charles T. Matthews was a well-known sign painter from the days when the signs on billboards were painted, not printed on paper that was then glued to the board. Charles Matthews was born in the South End of New Bedford and after living in a number of different places, he moved to Rochester in 1947 and continued to live there with his wife on Marion Road.
At an early age, Matthews inherited his interest in painting from a great uncle. Over the years, he studied the art of painting, first at The Swain School for several months when he was 15, and later, he completed three different art correspondence courses.
At the same time that he was studying at Swain, he began to work at the Blair Sign Co. of New Bedford where he acted as a sign board painter’s assistant. This job involved a variety of tasks: putting up staging, mixing paints and filling in large areas of color that had already been outlined by the artist. Matthews learned much from other artists, especially a Mr. Braley and a Mr. Sullivan and by the age of 30, he was an accomplished billboard artist.
Billboard artists at that time usually were contracted by advertising agencies. They would receive a sketch of the proposed ad which they would then enlarge and block out on the billboard and paint. They were usually paid by the square foot for their work. Some of Matthew’s more well-known signs are a 12 ft. high Miss Sunbeam (bread) and a 40-foot beer bottle. His work took him throughout New England and New York, and he painted in all kinds of weather. In 1955, he opened his own shop in Buzzard’s Bay where he painted all kinds of commercial signs.
When he finally retired, he stopped painting signs, but continued with picture painting, a hobby he had indulged in alongside the painting he had done as a business. In 1979, he was working on a 4×2 ft. oil painting entitled “Town Green.” The painting depicts the four buildings: Town Hall, the Academy, the 1st Congregational Church and the Plumb Library, that are situated in Rochester Center.
There is another sign in our exhibit that we believe is an example of his work. The Rochester Boat Race sign is typical of ones that were carved by Bill Watling and painted by Charlie Matthews, a true Rochester partnership.
By Connie Eshbach