'CITY' banner used on-top of US shields?

[Zeffy]

I was browsing the page at http://www.routemarkers.com/usa/ when the following shield caught my eye:



I haven't seen a 'CITY' banner ever, with no mentions made in recent MUTCDs. I'm guessing this is an older practice, but does anyone know what exactly the banner is there for? Seems kinda dumb to mark a highway inside of a city as a 'CITY Route'... I mean it's practically implied if the route goes through a city.

[Big John]

The "business" sign is used for that now.

[US71]

Bentonville, AR did on "City 71" in the early 1980's (pre 71 Expressway/I-540)

[The High Plains Traveler]

Minnesota used THRU CITY, though the route so marked was different from the route bypassing the town. Example was MN-197 through Bemidji along old U.S. 2-71, or county routes through Little Falls where it is bypassed by U.S. 10.

[Alps]

Boston had designated city routes - C1, C9, C28 - but the actual routes existed elsewhere at the same time. Heck, C1 multiplexed with US 1.

[Stratuscaster]

Illinois had a few CITY routes, too...

US-12
IL-13
US-20
US-30
US-40
US-66