FHWA Series D found in image from 1910?

[index]

I was going through old images of Charleston, SC in 1910 and I noticed something odd:



That sign over there bears a very close resemblance to FHWA Series D. According to Wikpedia, FHWA didn't appear until the 1940s.

Upon checking it with the real font, (from Roadgeek 2014) it appears similar to FHWA D.



Was FHWA based on a previously existing font? Is this just a coincidence? What are you all's thoughts? Do you all know anything about this?

[Scott5114]

It's similar, but there are enough differences (length of the serif of the G, width of the N and U, etc.) that it's not FHWA Series D.

In the days when signs had to be made by hand, economics favored the style of plain, straightforward font that FHWA Series exemplifies. Another modern example of the type is Gotham (designed in 2000), which was based on signage on a Port Authority bus terminal in New York.

[Hurricane Rex]

Highway Gothic (formally known as the FHWA Series fonts or the Standard Alphabets for Highway Signs) is a set of sans-serif typefaces developed by the United States Federal Highway Administration and used for road signage in the Americas

Since its Wikipedia it could be wrong so take this with a grain of salt.

[Scott5114]

Literally nothing about that sentence is wrong or even obscure.

[index]

It's similar, but there are enough differences (length of the serif of the G, width of the N and U, etc.) that it's not FHWA Series D.

In the days when signs had to be made by hand, economics favored the style of plain, straightforward font that FHWA Series exemplifies. Another modern example of the type is Gotham (designed in 2000), which was based on signage on a Port Authority bus terminal in New York.

You're right.

Taking a look at other Gothic fonts, they are very similar in style to FHWA. (Hence why most people know of FHWA as Highway Gothic)

[TheArkansasRoadgeek]

With the word "˜Gothic', it makes me think it would take on a more fitting and traditional look of serif characteristics, no? I have always wanted to broaden my knowledge of typeface and typography.


iPhone

[TXtoNJ]

With the word "˜Gothic', it makes me think it would take on a more fitting and traditional look of serif characteristics, no? I have always wanted to broaden my knowledge of typeface and typography.


iPhone

Gothic or Grotesque is just an old-fashioned way of saying sans-serif, in opposition to Roman or Antiqua serif typfaces.