C-Street Stamp

With money provided from Councilman, Denny Whayne's, pothole fund, Commercial Club was proud to recently unveil their first street stamp at the corner of Boonville and Commercial Streets. The huge stamp came with the completion of an $800,000 streetscape project funded by the City of Springfield.

The street stamp design was conceptualized by Jonathan Wilson, a business owner at 428 W. Commercial. With his one-man design studio, The Matter at Hand Design (417-848-4810), Wilson has been involved in improving the look of many projects that support the beautification of the street.

Wilson said that the history of the railroad and the goals of returning the street to a center for music, as it was in its hayday, are the elements he attempted to work into a design that looks like set tile or stained glass. "It's about history," said Wilson. "But not without looking forward as well."

He also shared that designing something to be hot-stamped into asphalt was a new experience for him, while somehwat similar to other processes he uses (like die-cutting and mold-making).

"Large, well-designed environmental graphics add much needed visual spice to otherwise bland infrastructure upgrades," said Wilson. "Springfield needs a 1-Percent-for-the-Arts program to make funds available for more such things."