Ed Smith's Stencil Works LTD

An enterprising young man of twenty-three, Edward Smith came to New Orleans around 1865 to start a business that would bring him fortune and set him on a career for life. Known as a carpetbagger from Baltimore, Maryland, he sought that fortune in the South where reconstruction after the Civil War was well underway. His unique business was founded two years later at 427 Natchez Street near Magazine Street during the Reconstruction Era in New Orleans.
Ed was a gaunt man with a beard that reached below his sternum, hardly fitting the profile of the Yankee swank. Upon arriving in New Orleans, he was soon enamored with the beauty and excitement of the port city, and promptly fell in love with his future wife, Julia, a New Orleans native. Before the war, Ed was a “turner” by trade, a now-antiquated job title for someone who used special tools to make shapes out of wood or metal. Having found his home in the Crescent City, the industrious young man established himself in an obscure specialty: manufacturing log hammers for cypress timber. Companies ordered their logos or brands to be put onto the tips of heavy iron hammers that were struck onto the end of each log to identify their property. The timber business boomed on the Mississippi’s west bank where cypress trees still stood in thick groves and toppled by the thousands. It was an oddly profitable line of work for Smith, as timber was constantly being shipped from New Orleans to help rebuild the war-torn cities throughout the South.
Ed soon began manufacturing other products such as stencils, stamps, and seals – practical but overlooked items which no one else in town was making at the time. His stencils were often simple and utilitarian: large letters to brand a ship’s hull, or crisp scripts for the sides of soda crates. His company was responsible for many of the markings identifying shipments leaving the from the Port of New Orleans to destinations all over the world. But Ed’s shop also hand made brass and copper stencils of breathtaking craft and intricacy. Several of these antiques hang in the shop today: Hercules tackling the Nemean lion, the Capitol, and an enormous restored copper stencil made in 1930 for the shop’s own storefront.
Ed. Smith’s stayed a family business through a circuitous pathway of inheritors for over 140 years in downtown New Orleans. In 1922 it moved From Natchez Street to 426 Camp Street, and later occupied the former Picayune Building at 326 Camp Street between Gravier and Poydras Street when the latter was widened in the 1960’s. In 2008, it was bought by Michael Rowan, an employee who had been with the company for more than 20 years, and who remains the sole owner. The business was then moved to 4315 Bienville Street in the heart of Mid-City, nestled between Carrollton Avenue and the celebrated cemeteries. It occupies the old Mid-City Post Office building which was built in 1959 and served as the postal station for the Mid-City area until 1998. When renovating the building, Rowan insisted that the hallmark and familiar features of the old post office be kept - from the shiny terrazzo flooring to the characteristic brick façade, to the 35-foot flagpole that stands in front of the building. He even rescued the original set of eight-and-a-half-foot-tall cypress display cabinets from the Camp Street location, which he had fully restored and now greet customers as they walk into the shop today. Other relics on display include antique tools and instruments (the ones that aren’t still being used in the shop), old-fashioned stamps and stencils, and even the very delivery cart that was used by Ed Smith in the early days downtown to peddle his wares to local customers.
The shop still bears Ed Smith's name and makes stencils, but is now outfitted with the latest high-tech sign-making equipment. It also still relies on tried and true methods, sometimes using techniques, machinery and dies dating back to the turn of the century. The business is the exclusive manufacturer of the star and crescent badges worn by New Orleans police officers, and makes most of the official seals of New Orleans’ notary publics, attorneys, engineers and architects. The company that bears his name also arranges the forging of the bronze historic markers that appear in nearly every line of sight in the French Quarter.
Retaining the original name has brought much business, recognition and growth to the company. “It was the right thing to do,” says Rowan. “People are already familiar with the name and associate it with longevity, quality and experience.” Indeed, the owner, general manager, and production manager have been with Ed. Smith’s for a combined total of almost 60 years.
Half as old as the City of New Orleans itself, Ed. Smith’s Stencil Works, Ltd., remains a manufacturer and installer of custom signs, stencils, stamps, seals and many other products, and thanks to the company’s extensive knowledge and experience, it is able to offer customers personalized signage solutions for almost any need. There is no typical Ed. Smith’s customer as the company works with all types of industries and sectors, large and small, public and private, with both businesses and individuals.
Today, the 150-year-old business has 15 employees and over 3,500 active customer accounts, including the oil and gas industry, marketing and advertising firms, government contractors, restaurants, the movie industry, lawyers, churches, the tourism industry, stadiums and sports venues, casinos and fairgrounds, festivals and events, parks, museums, offshore and maritime industries and Mardi Gras krewes. You name it, and Ed. Smith’s Stencil Works can do it!