Following the news that Dixie Fried Chicken would close, our readers immediately began to ask about the fate of the iconic South Orange sign.

We reached out to the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, which has a growing collection of interesting and hyper-local signage from Orlando’s past. They responded with the following:

“The Dixie Fried Chicken sign is very much on our radar.  We have been in touch with the restaurant owners, who would like to donate it. There is an issue, however, about whether we can get it in its entirety. The property owner wants to keep part of it from what we understand. We have not heard back from the restaurant owner since our first discussion. But if the whole sign is available, we would certainly be thrilled to have it for our collection. It’s a piece of Orlando history, a local icon, and the last of a certain style of signage. We would be glad to give it a home.”

The restaurant owner and the property owner are still negotiating the future of the sign, but once a decision is made, they will be reaching out to the Morse Museum.

The Morse Museum currently houses pieces like the Merita Bread sign, which they acquired in 2014. Most of the collection is not open to the public at the moment as they are in the process of being documented and restored.

The Orlando Sentinel has previously done a video tour of the collection which you can watch HERE.

 

 

Brendan O'Connor

Editor in Chief of Bungalower.com

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  1. Too bad the Morse couldn’t have saved The Booby Trap. Ha. Now that was iconic!

  2. I hope it goes to the Morse Museum in its entirety. The Morse would ensure the preservation of this sign for generations to come.

  3. Hope they get it! I would love to see all those great signs in a museum open to the public! Pretty soon, the only sign worthwhile that’s still up in Central Florida is going to be the Parliament House!