1/10 In the 1940's Northwestern National Bank advertisers hired designer Douglas Leigh, famous for iconic signs in Times Square and "the man who lit up Broadway." He had developed an idea for a color-changing beacon atop the Empire State Building in 1941, but WWII intervened.
2/10 Leigh brought his invention to Minneapolis. Unveiled with great fanfare on October 7, 1949, the Weatherball was the first of its kind. Standing 367 feet above Marquette Avenue, it was both the tallest and largest lighted sign between Chicago and the West Coast.
3/10 Each day at 4:14pm an employee at the bank called the National Weather Service and manually set the Weatherball to one of 4 indications based on the next day's forecast.
4/10 In 1977, the phone system was replaced by a direct line to the National Weather Service at Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport. The Weatherball could be updated four times a day via remote keypad and the color change verified by using binoculars.
5/10 Smaller versions were installed at NW Bank branches across Minnesota. The weatherball idea was then copied in places like Salt Lake City and Flint Michigan.
6/10 The Weatherball became a cultural icon. Weatherball Dining Room on the top floor of the bank had themed silverware, placemats, and matchbooks. A radio jingle developed by Campbell-Mithun was everywhere on the airwaves. There was Weatherball man and Weatherball merch.
7/10 On Thanksgiving Day 1982, a spectacular fire started in the vacant Donaldson’s Department Store adjacent to the Northwestern National Bank building and consumed the entire city block. The Weatherball survived but was turned off after the fire.
8/10 In 1983 grim-looking bank officials announced demolition of their damaged headquarters and removal of the Weatherball to storage. A helicopter snatched the ball portion off the sign, the rest of the huge 78 ton structure was lowered by crane to the street.
