photos of old signs on the internet

[agentsteel53]

I wonder if any of those black Maryland guide signs are still around?  probably not, as they are wood and likely to have rotted away.  New Jersey's cast iron signs of the same vintage survive because they are restored and put back into circulation all the time.

[Alps]

OPTIONAL US 66. Now I have my new favorite route designation.

[FightingIrish]

Took this one a few weeks ago and posted it on another thread:



It's in Milwaukee on N. 91st St. approaching Appleton Av going south.

[Vintagesign103]

It's really good to see old signs in this post.

[Mapmikey]

Saw this one on my recent vacation...it is embossed.

Just of NY 18 Wilson, NY

http://goo.gl/maps/uWN4E

Mapmikey

[hbelkins]

These oldies but goodies are still standing in Haysi, Va.

[amroad17]

^ You are too old if you remember...shoot, never mind. 

[NE2]

from http://books.google.com/books?id=nqlBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1033

[agentsteel53]

the figure 4 in lower right shows that 4 is following 26.

I have evidence that Wisconsin may have used a similar system.



possibly Minnesota did as well.

I have no idea if, in these other cases, the meaning of the smaller tabs was the same or not, but it seems plausible.

[NE2]

I think that's showing that 11 continues straight, while 35 and 54 turn left (all three happen to overlap behind, but this style may have been used even if they didn't). The sign was probably in Galesville on Main at Gale (11 is now US 53; 54 is off to the south on a bypass and 35 is way to the south on a road closer to the Mississippi).

[agentsteel53]

you may very well be right.

the fact that we're having this conversation shows that the signage is a failure.

[NE2]

The style at the intersection was probably no clearer: http://www.dajensen-family.com/roads/nearroads.html

Most likely official maps described how the signs worked, like this one from NC:

from http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/ncmaps/id/5114/rec/18

[agentsteel53]

I have seen that post in Baraboo... indeed, very unintuitive.

still there as of 2010.

[NE2]

from http://books.google.com/books?id=czs5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA27

This doesn't seem to have been on SH 88, unless that route was renumbered in 1923 or 1924. Based on mileage, the sign was on SH 1 (US 85) in Monument.

[NE2]

from http://books.google.com/books?id=x60yAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA6

[agentsteel53]

This doesn't seem to have been on SH 88, unless that route was renumbered in 1923 or 1924. Based on mileage, the sign was on SH 1 (US 85) in Monument.

that sign is captioned as a sample, and may not have been intended to be destination-accurate.  there are certain differences between it, and all surviving examples I have seen, as well as all other field photos.



* seals at top, as opposed to bottom
* black text instead of white in seals (bad use of tincture, right JN Winkler?)
* arrow without feathers
* Rocky Mountain Motorists Inc. instead of Mountain States Auto Association, with slightly different rendering of the mountain design.
* destinations not centered, but rather justified left and right

[NE2]

Oregon, 1920:

from http://books.google.com/books?id=sz0lAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA37

[agentsteel53]

Great old PA Turnpike Guide Sign on the Post-Gazette site today:

http://24.media.tumblr.com/458044bc7cfcbc1e364b88e35aea0ddc/tumblr_mnj1iqiVzN1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg

I missed this N months ago, so I am gonna necro the post.

that route shield appears to be the earliest one I've ever seen of the shape that we would now refer to as "1970 spec".  Pennsylvania had it around by 1965, as a black square, and it looks like it was around even earlier.  the photo is 1957-63 based on the license plates.

[CanesFan27]

Great old PA Turnpike Guide Sign on the Post-Gazette site today:

http://24.media.tumblr.com/458044bc7cfcbc1e364b88e35aea0ddc/tumblr_mnj1iqiVzN1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg

I missed this N months ago, so I am gonna necro the post.

that route shield appears to be the earliest one I've ever seen of the shape that we would now refer to as "1970 spec".  Pennsylvania had it around by 1965, as a black square, and it looks like it was around even earlier.  the photo is 1957-63 based on the license plates.

Most likely pre-1960.  I have somewhere in the house a 1960 PTC annual report type brochure that talked about new signing going up on the turnpike.  I'll have to dig that out one day.

[agentsteel53]

the fonts do not quite appear to be Pennsylvania DOT's approximation of Highway Gothic - the 2s aren't quite as exaggerated, for example. 

the newest car seems to be maybe a '55 Chevy.  right lane, heading away from viewer, second-nearest car to observer.  the two coming towards viewer, nearest, riding almost parallel, seem to be earlier styles. 

Jeremy or anyone with car expertise want to take a closer look?

[formulanone]

1955 looks to be about right, give or take a year; most of the vehicles (not sure about the truck) appear to be late-1940s to early/mid-1950s. No major fins on the back of the vehicles, which was a five-year design fad from the mid-1950s to 1959-60. Of course, not everyone is going to be driving the latest model.

[NE2]

from http://www.idaillinois.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/bb/id/29703 (p. 256)

[Zeffy]

'DANGER STATE ROAD'? What the hell kind of sign is that? I like the design of the CAUTION ZONE sign.

[NE2]

'DANGER STATE ROAD'? What the hell kind of sign is that?

Probably posted on an intersecting local road.

[PHLBOS]

From just north of Logan Airport back in the day.  I think the US 1 shield covers a C-1 shield?

Probably; this went from C1 to US 1 to 1A. But the choice of control cities is a bit weird, since both are off to the right on 1A in a couple miles.

That gantry and signs were there until 1977, when all but one now-gone viaduct (that served the MBTA's original Blue Line Airport Station) were completely redecked.  The US 1 shields (along w/the covered MA C1 shields) were indeed replaced w/MA 1A shields w/trailblazer-style direction cardinals placed above the shields circa 1975. 

It's worth noting that gantry is older than those old BGS'.  One old 1949 pic. showing the northbound approach to the airport exit ramp has a similar style gantry with destinations & directions; the lmits of the signs do not extend beyond the gantry bridge. 

1949 pic. of then-MA C1 North approaching Logan Airport

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mit-libraries/3440955293/

The use of LYNN as a destination despite one needing to change routes at Bell Circle, prior to 1975, was not unusal DPW signing practice back then.  It was very common to list a destination that was near but not along the listed route.  Since Lynn is a city, and only a few miles from Bell Circle; listing it as a destination from the airport seemed appropriate regardless of whether it was along the same route or not.  Another example of such was further north at the Wonderland rotary, there was a mid-60s Paddle LGS that actually listed MARBLEHEAD as a 1A destination even though MA 1A never went through it.  I would love to see an old pic of that LGS.

Those BGS' likely date back to either the late 50s or early 60s so they also predate any plans for a Relocated I-95 concept that would have made what is now known as the Ted Williams Tunnel part of I-95 instead of I-90 and diverged from the East Boston Expressway (current MA 1A).  I only state this in case someone speculates that the Relocated I-95 proposal was the reasoning behind the DPW's listing of Lynn as a C1/1 destiantion; it clearly wasn't given the vintage of those old signs.

From deathtopumpkins' earlier post:



The MA 1A North pull-through BGS is of 1977-vintage and was indeed the BGS that replaced the old C1/1/NORTH 1A REVERE LYNN sign.  The original 1977 exit BGS for MA 145, that was obviously replaced in the above-photo, listed Chelsea & Winthrop as its destinations and was the first time Chelsea was listed for that exit.  The old BGS at the exit itself, from PurdueBill's link (great find BTW) which is somewhat blurred, listed Orient Heights & Winthrop as destinations.

At the bottom of the now-gone exit ramp to the Callahan Tunnel from the southbound Central Artery, 1974-1975-vintage diagrammatic BGS' along with BGS for the northbound Artery (note the TO 93 NORTH reference) and the Callahan Tunnel BGS.  The original 1974-75 steel BGS for the Callahan Tunnel featured the same exact message as the newer BGS pictured sans the yellow clearance tab at the bottom and a US 1 shield.  Needless to say, the shield was replaced with a MA 1A shield roughly a year later.



Up-close and personal shot of some old Artery/Expressway BGS' just north of the Mass Ave. interchange (the MDC car is either a '71 or '72 Ford Custom.  Note: the '71-'73 Cadillac in the background).