California state routes ... first signed when?

[agentsteel53]

I'm trying to figure out when CA's first state route (bear) signs appeared.  I've read in many places that they were put up starting in 1934.  I have seen many bear shields with 1933 stamps on the back ... okay, serves to reason, they cranked them out and then put them up in the next calendar year.

but I've also seen several bears with 1932 stamps.  Thus I'm guessing it took them two years to fully unroll the program, but there were bears in the field as early as 1932, or 1933 at the latest.  I can't imagine they'd have run off signs starting that early and then done nothing with them for at least a year ...

anyone have any documentation of bears in the wild as early as 1933 or even 1932?  The oldest photo I've seen is 1936 I think.

[Voyager]

For some reason I thought they had come out in 1929 starting with CA-49.

[agentsteel53]

1929? dang, that's early.  But plausible... where did you read that?  I have heard (I forget where) that 49 was the first highway to be signed in California.  I know the US highways were signed earlier (I've heard 1928 and that seems correct).

I have never seen a bear without a date stamp, and the first date stamps were put on signs starting in 1932... but that does not mean they're not out there.

would be interesting if there were bears from before 1932, because the signs used colored Auto Club logos before then, instead of the black and white ones after.

older (undated, 1928-1931):


newer (1933):

[John]

1934 is correct, even a Caltrans publication backs that up.

[agentsteel53]

I can understand the '33 stamped shields, but the '32 is still a mystery.  Maybe one from a trial run?

as for 83 not showing up on that list and my 83 shield having a 1933 stamp, that actually makes sense because they stamped the shields before putting the designs on the front ... in some cases, several years before.  I have a US-6 with a 1935 stamp, and US-6 didn't make it to California until 1937!

I'm thinking a bunch more routes showed up just after 1934; they just hadn't been finalized by the time of that article.  There's just too many gaps in the numbering that are best explained by indeterminate routes... like 83, which must've shown up sometime before 1938, because that is the year they changed the shield style to accommodate reflectors.



not only is the shield a bit bigger (15 3/4 by 18, instead of the older 15 1/2 by 17) but the sides are more squared off.

[Voyager]

I still can't find anything from before 1932.

[agentsteel53]

what are you finding for 1932/33?

[Voyager]

The 49 shield.

[agentsteel53]

do you have a link by any chance?