Dundalk Heritage Sign

A Special Thanks to Everyone Involved
Rick Siegert: Fabrication Consultant – PMI
Carla Crisp: Executive Director – PMI
Mike Forrester: Creative Director – PMI
Ray Heil: Baltimore County Office of Community Conservation
Dennis R. McCartney & Ralph Eisenhuth: B&B Welding Company, Inc.
Jason French: CSX
Ed Cluster, Joe Hirsch: Hirsch Electric

2007
We love our hometown of Dundalk, Maryland. Our fathers grew up here, worked together at Sparrow’s Point, and raised their families on steady diet of hard work and strong values. Living by the water and working in the steel mills created decades of good living.

So when the chance came to give back, we pounced on it.

“The Dundalk Heritage Sign is the best job we’ve ever done,” says B&B’s Dennis McCartney. “It’s also the least profitable,” he laughs. “But sometimes you measure profits in more esoteric ways than money.”

It all started as an idea on a napkin — a gateway sign mounted to a 90-year old train overpass that welcomed the world to Dundalk. At once celebrating our industrial past and heralding a new renaissance, the sign was designed, built and erected by local craftsmen and artists.

Some seven years in the making, the Dundalk Heritage Sign has been a work of love. A who’s who of Dundalk residents and businesses helped coordinate and plan the gateway sign. B&B joined this civic crusade in 2007, when Janice Evans of the Dundalk Renaissance Corp approached us at a Chamber of Commerce meeting. They needed a place to store the different sign components. Of course, we opened our doors. But when we took a better look at the actual sign, we knew we had a larger role to play.

The original design called for many unwelded parts and for some eccentric bridge attachments. “One look and we knew this thing would never stand up to the weather,” says B&B’s Ralph Eisenhuth. “It had too many overlapping, faying surfaces that were not welded.” Either we welded together the pieces — and risk damaging the paint — or we caulked the faying pieces. So we threw a caulking party. This being Dundalk, the community helped out, this time lead by a young kid striving for his Eagle Scout award. With a little pizza and a lot of Boy Scouts, we caulked the sign together.

Next, the bridge attachments needed an overhaul. “The brackets weren’t going to work either,” says Ralph. “Not with all the vibrations from the train.” So we went into modeling mode, fired up the SDS2 software, and designed a strong back system at top and bottom to give the sign rigidity. As a bonus, we added to the lower beam some structural steel brackets for spotlights as well as some auxiliary 110 receptacles for hanging seasonal displays. Every December, the B&B team mounts Christmas, wreathes to the sign.

Today, the Heritage Sign welcomes visitors entering Dundalk via our main thoroughfare. “I drive by it as often as I can,” says Dennis. “In fact, I keep a can of paint in the back of my truck. From time to time, I go up the girder and touch it up.”

“Dundalk,” says Dennis, “we’re a special breed.”