PROBABLY PEEKSKILL, NEW YORK, 19TH CENTURY

Prior to the advent of general public education and literacy, proprietors relied on trade signs to indicate trade services as well as provide eye-catching imagery to attract business to his shop. By tradition, this large double-sided sign hung outside John Dyckman's shop for Boots and Shoes, located in Peekskill, New York and was likely inspired by circus elephants like the famous "Dumbo." As New York became the center of the American circus business starting in the early nineteenth century, elephants became an increasingly popular motif. The Elephant Inn in nearby Sommers, New York (now Sommers Town Hall) had a stone carved elephant on a pedestal in front of the hotel.