photos of old signs on the internet

[Ian]

I am mainly into signs and roads. My family always traveled up north, and I just loved that feeling when your in the car and you pass by interesting signs and scenes. As a baby, my mom would turn to the street on the home stretch to get home, and I would start whining because I wanted to stay out on the trip longer!

Yes, old signs are great...but I don't get the fuss so many in this hobby has about signs...as a friend of mine says...your hobby really should be called signgeeking vs. roadgeeking.  I have to admit I agree.

meanwhile I don't get the fuss about "a new alignment of 540 just opened! gotta go drive it!"

To each his/her own, I guess.

For me, I'm interested in both the signs and the alignment things mentioned above, but I don't get the traffic signals.  I often look at the posts there any say to myself.  "What's the fuss, those two signal types look the same to me."

I like traffic signals because they fascinate me. Everywhere I'd go, I would see different styles, looks, colors, etc. It was one of the main highway elements I would pay attention to out on a trip. Just an obsession with me. Over the years, I learned all about the brands, what is improved on visibility of them, and stuff like that. I don't get mad if you don't understand signals, you are road/signgeeks, not signal fans.

[florida]

Yes, old signs are great...but I don't get the fuss so many in this hobby has about signs...as a friend of mine says...your hobby really should be called signgeeking vs. roadgeeking.  I have to admit I agree.

I don't understand it either. Most roads I drive on do have signs, and some roads don't have signs during some stretches. Does that mean I'm roadgeeking at that moment, and when the signs reappear, I'm signgeeking? Don't even bring in traffic lights to the equation..my head hurts already.

The road is an open book, the signs are the words telling the story. There are maybe two, three, more(?) on here who have lived during the Golden Age of Roads, before metal guardrails became our best friends on a long road trip, before monotonous national standards came into effect, before cities spent copious amounts of money to "beautify" streets with fake bricks and street lamps, every place had it different. And when the different was made the same, people around my age (younger and older) did not get to experience that. So finding old signs is always a treat when you're clinching a highway, be it the current or old alignment. These don't stick around for long today. Bridges, signals, signs, asphalt, concrete, 1920s bricks, it's all roadgeeking. They're all aspects of the road.

What we're missing are treegeeks, and wildflowergeeks.

[US71]

What we're missing are treegeeks, and wildflowergeeks.

I'm not a big tree geek, but I am somewhat of one. When I lived in Fayetteville, the city tore down a grove of 100 year old trees to build a strip mall with Target & Kohl's. I never tied myself to a tree, but I was rooting for those who did.

[florida]

What we're missing are treegeeks, and wildflowergeeks.

I'm not a big tree geek, but I am somewhat of one. When I lived in Fayetteville, the city tore down a grove of 100 year old trees to build a strip mall with Target & Kohl's. I never tied myself to a tree, but I was rooting for those who did.

That's a shame. They couldn't build the Target & Kohl's in...say...a flood plain? No trees there!

[US71]

That's a shame. They couldn't build the Target & Kohl's in...say...a flood plain? No trees there!

No, the city Slumlord builds apartments in the flood plain... cheap land.  Target or Kohl's would have to spend too much money putting in adequate drainage.

[ctsignguy]

Yes, old signs are great...but I don't get the fuss so many in this hobby has about signs...as a friend of mine says...your hobby really should be called signgeeking vs. roadgeeking.  I have to admit I agree.

I don't understand it either. Most roads I drive on do have signs, and some roads don't have signs during some stretches. Does that mean I'm roadgeeking at that moment, and when the signs reappear, I'm signgeeking? Don't even bring in traffic lights to the equation..my head hurts already.

The road is an open book, the signs are the words telling the story. There are maybe two, three, more(?) on here who have lived during the Golden Age of Roads, before metal guardrails became our best friends on a long road trip, before monotonous national standards came into effect, before cities spent copious amounts of money to "beautify" streets with fake bricks and street lamps, every place had it different. And when the different was made the same, people around my age (younger and older) did not get to experience that. So finding old signs is always a treat when you're clinching a highway, be it the current or old alignment. These don't stick around for long today. Bridges, signals, signs, asphalt, concrete, 1920s bricks, it's all roadgeeking. They're all aspects of the road.

Yeah, i was a kid during the days of the Interstates being constructed...so i remember all the half-finished bridges, the last uses of the smudge pots, detours and all the other stuff that goes with massive road construction projects....back before decade-long delays for environmental impact statements, political considerations, NIMBY-ism, et al. 

and i have to say, for me, the sounds of trucks on the highway at night are a siren call to go travel the open road....

*G* and tomorrow, i get to scratch that itch! 

[wytout]

I just find it interesting how much of the hobby is based on signs vs. travel. 

Well.  The signs definitely add to the traveling for me.  The road the scenery all very important, and to me the signs and what oddity I might find sweeten the deal for me.  For me, as I travel from place to place I find that there are nuances in signage that make it as unique to each state or area as the landscape features, or road design features.  Signs are everywhere and if you pay close enough attention, despite the widespread standardization, you can always find something different about the way one place does it over another.

[Ian]

Here is a somewhat older sign thats still surviving:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/LocalRoadRelatedShots#5399197850359300434

[mightyace]

Here is a somewhat older sign thats still surviving:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/LocalRoadRelatedShots#5399197850359300434

Thanks for the picture, I passed under that sign or a carbon-copy predecessor of it many times backs in the early 70s going to my grandfather's house in New Castle, DE.  Boy, does that bring back memories!

[Ian]

Here is a somewhat older sign thats still surviving:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/LocalRoadRelatedShots#5399197850359300434

Thanks for the picture, I passed under that sign or a carbon-copy predecessor of it many times backs in the early 70s going to my grandfather's house in New Castle, DE.  Boy, does that bring back memories!

You're welcome! I never really thought much of it, until I heard it was somewhat vintage. I actually took this photo a few hours ago, with my new camera that I was testing out. Great results!

[CanesFan27]

and it's worth a point in the PA Signs Scavenger Hunt on flickr.

[Ian]

Yea I saw that. I never really knew it was that vintage. Any ideas on the date of the sign?

[Hellfighter]

Old Mississippi Sign...

[hbelkins]

You're welcome! I never really thought much of it, until I heard it was somewhat vintage. I actually took this photo a few hours ago, with my new camera that I was testing out. Great results!

Here's another one. On PA 652.



We passed under this during the upper Delaware River meet this past winter.

[jjakucyk]

I just found these today in Lockland (just North of Cincinnati).  I understand Ohio lettered interstate shields are tough to find, and though I haven't really looked much, these are the only ones I've ever seen.  Lockland has lots of old stuff like this, including vintage traffic signals and buried streetcar tracks.  It also helps that the western leg of I-75 through Lockland was originally constructed in the mid 1940's(!)  It's just the southbound lanes now, but the old retaining walls and fences, including a very tight exit are all original.  So it's no wonder there's a bit of a time warp here.  The arrow in the first picture is painted over something else, probably a "North" sign.  Any ideas how old that AAA sign is? 

Here's two more from the same area.





Documented by others before me as well, here's the two US-50 shields and the US-27 shield.

[Ian]

hbelkins,

I see! How many do you think there could be left in the state? Or are these the only two left?

Also jjakucyk, niiiiiice shots!

[florida]

"Bridge 1/1 mi ahead" 

Assuming it's supposed to be 1/4?

[jjakucyk]

I think it's supposed to be 1/10 mile.  That's how far it measures out on Google Maps anyway.  And it's an awesome bridge too, a concrete rainbow/pony arch built in 1909, one of the first one ever built. 

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

[Ian]

This is also surviving near me:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/iccdude/4086386795/in/photostream/

Also, anyone know why there is a big blank space on the right sign?

[mightyace]

This is also surviving near me:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/iccdude/4086386795/in/photostream/

Also, anyone know why there is a big blank space on the right sign?

I'm looking at the 1989 Pennsylvania Official Transportation Map and, at the time, I-476 ended south of this point while today it passes just to the west of here and, even today, it roughly parallels I-476.  So, I'm guess that it was either a "TO I-76" or "TO I-476" sign.

[Alex]

Found on Ohio Interstate History Timeline

[ctsignguy]

Found on Ohio Interstate History Timeline

Is that Joehler taking it down?   

[florida]

^^ More like his father.

[Ian]

Also some more older signs which I shot (correct me if I made any errors)...

Older all text PDH (Penn. Dept. of Highways) "DO NOT ENTER" sign:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/iccdude/4129971504/

Old embossed "RIGHT TURN KEEP MOVING" sign:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/iccdude/4123544990/in/photostream/

Old PennDOT chevron:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/iccdude/4122773479/in/photostream/

Old PA measured mile sign:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/iccdude/4123544034/in/photostream/

[Ian]

Took these shots today...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iccdude/4137030856/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iccdude/4136266505/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iccdude/4136552044/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iccdude/4135790093/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iccdude/4136550246/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iccdude/4136548906/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iccdude/4135786683/in/photostream/