MANSFIELD, Ohio — When traveling southbound on North Main Street near the corner of Harker Street, it’s hard not to notice Town and Country Co-op’s towering silos that read, “Welcome to Mansfield.”
But how did that sign get up there, anyway?
The man behind the magic is Terry Philpott, Richland Correctional Institution Catholic chaplain and deacon at St. Peter’s Church.
In the summer of 2000 (according to Mansfield News Journal records), Philpott was commissioned by former mayor Lydia Reid to paint the sign as a way to help beautify the area.
Philpott joked that Reid told him, “Terry, you’re the only guy I know that’s dumb enough to climb that high and do some work like that.”
High altitudes didn’t really faze Philpott, though. He said he was used to being high in the sky with all the work on cell towers that he had done in the past.
So Philpott began laying out the design on the 105-foot grain elevators using a man lift that could stretch 110 feet up in the air. He said the only tools he used were a 100-foot tape measure, a level, a couple of pencils and some string.
He said he hired someone to stand watch at ground level while he worked on the project. “If anything were to happen to me, his job was to call 911,” he said.
At 8 a.m. on a Monday morning, he started painting with a roller and industrial enamel paint. “It took two gallons of red, two gallons of blue and two gallons of yellow,” he said.
The number of silos matched the number of letters in Mansfield, “which made it easy and convenient,” he said.
On Friday of that same week, the job was done.
“I felt great doing it,” he said.
Reid said the project, which she estimated to cost between $15,000 and $16,000, was paid for in part by the company that owned the silos, which was then known as SunMark, Ltd. The remaining fees were covered by private donations.
She lauded Rick Taylor for his contribution.
“He really made a difference because without him we wouldn’t have had enough money to do it,” she said.
Philpott said over the years he’s received many compliments, “but my grandkids are most proud,” he said with a laugh.
“He did an incredible job,” Reid said.
Because time and the elements have caused some of the paint to fade and chip, Reid said she’d love to see it done again.
“It would be great to do it again,” she said.
