Sherman sought bids for downtown plaza for Texas Theater sign
City bid papers split the work: one contractor would build the plaza at Houston and Crockett streets, while a separate firm, Sign Machine, handles the sign's restoration and installation.
Sherman's planned downtown plaza at Houston and Crockett streets would give the historic Texas Theater neon sign a new setting, according to city bid documents. The city advertised the plaza work in July, and a state filing lists the estimated cost at $120,000.
The plaza contract covers only part of the display. Under an addendum Sherman issued Aug. 3, 2026, the plaza contractor supplies the concrete foundation and the lower support pipe. Sign Machine holds a separate contract for refurbishing and installing the sign, and the addendum excludes the upper support pipe from the plaza work. The city handles planting, irrigation and water service.
The plaza contract is only part of the display
Plaza construction contract
The general contractor supplies the concrete foundation and the lower support pipe.
Included
Handled separately
Sign Machine refurbishes and installs the sign and handles the upper support pipe under a separate contract. The city handles planting, irrigation, the irrigation controller and water service.
Excluded
A July 9, 2026, registration filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation describes 3,100 square feet of plaza improvements in Sherman, Grayson County, and names the City of Sherman as owner. The $120,000 on that filing is an estimate, not a contract price.
Estimated cost of 3,100 square feet of plaza improvements
An estimate on a state accessibility registration, not a final contract price
Sherman advertised the project, IFB 2026-15, on July 21, 2026, with bids due at 10 a.m. Aug. 11, 2026. The addendum sets construction at 90 calendar days from the notice to proceed, replacing 60-day language in the project manual. The city's published agreement template, which leaves the contractor and price blank, provides for $200 per calendar day in delay damages, 5% payment retainage and a two-year maintenance bond equal to the project's full cost. Those are solicitation terms.
The sign has outlived the building it advertised. According to the Bullock Texas State History Museum, the neon dates to about 1940, years after the theater opened in 1931, and hung on the front for more than four decades. The theater operated into the early 1970s and was demolished in 1988. A 2011 Texas House ornament publication identified the sign as coming from Sherman's Texas Theater and recorded it as displayed at the Bullock museum in Austin.
The Texas Historical Commission recommends preserving historic neon signs for their design and their ties to former businesses. Its guidance calls keeping a sign in its original location preferable and names display in the same general area as an alternative.
Other Texas communities have paid for sign work in different ways. Amarillo's Paramount Theater sign restoration, completed in 2006, cost almost $80,000, according to a Texas Historical Commission newsletter. Center City of Amarillo contributed $40,000, and a campaign offering $50 bulb sponsorships raised approximately $25,000 in four months. In Denison, the Development Alliance offers regular downtown projects a 50% matching grant, with possible reimbursement of up to $25,000 on $50,000 in qualifying expenditures, according to the city's grant program page.
Sherman has invested in downtown signs before. Its Cultural District used a Texas Commission on the Arts grant for downtown wayfinding and a welcome sign at Travis Street and U.S. 75, according to the district.
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