How Did Route Shields get their shape?

[bing101]

County Route-Blue Pentagon with Yellow Text (Reason For shape unknown)
National Forest Route Shield-Unknown history.
Interstates- Red White Blue Shield based on US Seal logo where Eagle uses shield
US Routes- White Shield Based in US Seal Logo where eagle uses shield


California State Route Shield-based on Green Spade based on 1849 gold Rush.
Hawaii State Route Shield- Based on Rain Drop yet a white Version of California Spade
Nevada and Idaho State routes based on state shape.
Texas Ranch Road and FM Road based on State shape.
Washington State route- Based on President Washington

[agentsteel53]

Re: How Did Route Shields get their shape?

these days?  plasma cutter.

[Ian]

Pennsylvania- keystone state
New York- modified state seal
New Hampshire- Old Man of the Mountain
ME, MA, RI, CT, WV, IN, IL, TX, MT- because they're all a bunch of squares

[Pete from Boston]

 How much of this is conjecture?  Neither US nor Interstate marker bears much resemblance to the shield in the US seal.   

[hotdogPi]

New England all had squares.

Then New Hampshire and Vermont changed, but a few older ones are still squares.

[bing101]

How much of this is conjecture?  Neither US nor Interstate marker bears much resemblance to the shield in the US seal.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/history/us/symbols/presidentialseal/color.GIF


this is my basis for US route shield design based on US routes and Interstates.

[Brandon]

ME, MA, RI, CT, WV, IN, IL, TX, MT- because they're all a bunch of squares

Prior to the circle being the default of choice, it seems that the square was the default route shield of choice in the 1940s and 1950s when many of these square/rectangular route shields came to be.  For example, Illinois used to use a state-shape shield until about 1955-1960.

Michigan - unknown as to why, but the diamond with the block "M" at the top has been in use since the beginning of signed routes in the state in 1918.

Wisconsin - unknown, but the original was a downward-pointing triangle.  It is speculated that this evolved to the current shape in order to give the route number more space.

[agentsteel53]

Illinois used to use a state-shape shield until about 1955-1960.

Illinois introduced the state-named square in 1948, when the MUTCD specified oversize markers for junctions.  instead of attempting to scale up the state outline, they went with the square.

they used the smaller cutouts until 1971 or so, when that MUTCD specified all route markers must be 24" or larger in each dimension.  so they dropped the state outline then.

this means that indeed for about 20 years, there were two styles in play.

[Pete from Boston]

How much of this is conjecture?  Neither US nor Interstate marker bears much resemblance to the shield in the US seal.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/history/us/symbols/presidentialseal/color.GIF


this is my basis for US route shield design based on US routes and Interstates.

That's the presidential seal.  Different seal, different shield.

I see what you're talking about regarding the Interstate emblem (which went through many design iterations) but this is nothing like a US route symbol.  I recall reading that the US route symbol was something common in either military emblems or some kind of badge.  I'm sure someone here knows the story.

[Brandon]

How much of this is conjecture?  Neither US nor Interstate marker bears much resemblance to the shield in the US seal.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/history/us/symbols/presidentialseal/color.GIF


this is my basis for US route shield design based on US routes and Interstates.

That's the presidential seal.  Different seal, different shield.

I see what you're talking about regarding the Interstate emblem (which went through many design iterations) but this is nothing like a US route symbol.  I recall reading that the US route symbol was something common in either military emblems or some kind of badge.  I'm sure someone here knows the story.

It's based on a US shield used in various federal agencies.

Commerce
Defense - looks somewhat like the Interstate shield.
Justice - again, somewhat like the Interstate shield.
Treasury - look familiar for the US highway shield?
Air Force - again, familiar?
Interstate Commerce Commission - again, familiar?
Federal Maritime Commission - looks like the US highway shield again

There's a lot more.  These are standard US shield shapes, both the US highway and Interstate ones.

[Alps]

Wisconsin - unknown, but the original was a downward-pointing triangle.  It is speculated that this evolved to the current shape in order to give the route number more space.

It's a cheese wedge.

[NE2]

Florida: we're all dicks here.

[formulanone]

Florida: we're all dicks here.

I was going to mention Stand Your Ground, but instead...with everything from Tampa Bay through the keys being the foreskin instead of a trigger.

[Brandon]

Florida: we're all dicks here.

You said it better than I could have.

[bing101]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Florida_State_Roads_15_and_408.jpg

Here's Florida state route Shields for you although its the state shape but this speaks for itself.

Florida: we're all dicks here.

I was going to mention Stand Your Ground, but instead...with everything from Tampa Bay through the keys being the foreskin instead of a trigger.

[Pete from Boston]

How much of this is conjecture?  Neither US nor Interstate marker bears much resemblance to the shield in the US seal.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/history/us/symbols/presidentialseal/color.GIF


this is my basis for US route shield design based on US routes and Interstates.

That's the presidential seal.  Different seal, different shield.

I see what you're talking about regarding the Interstate emblem (which went through many design iterations) but this is nothing like a US route symbol.  I recall reading that the US route symbol was something common in either military emblems or some kind of badge.  I'm sure someone here knows the story.

It's based on a US shield used in various federal agencies.

Commerce
Defense - looks somewhat like the Interstate shield.
Justice - again, somewhat like the Interstate shield.
Treasury - look familiar for the US highway shield?
Air Force - again, familiar?
Interstate Commerce Commission - again, familiar?
Federal Maritime Commission - looks like the US highway shield again

There's a lot more.  These are standard US shield shapes, both the US highway and Interstate ones.

I'll take your word for it rather than clicking on all those links.

I wonder what the origin of the shape is.

[bandit957]

Kentucky uses a circle as a tribute to bubbling.

[agentsteel53]

I wonder what the origin of the shape is.

good question.  Greek and Roman statues tend to have plain circular shields.  I bet the US went with a distinctly-shaped shield just for recognition.

as for the original military purpose of such a shield shape?  I believe the scallops are intended to catch an enemy's sword.

[Brandon]

I wonder what the origin of the shape is.

good question.  Greek and Roman statues tend to have plain circular shields.  I bet the US went with a distinctly-shaped shield just for recognition.

as for the original military purpose of such a shield shape?  I believe the scallops are intended to catch an enemy's sword.

No idea, but by the Middle Ages, some shields had pointed shapes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Codex_Manesse_052r_Walther_von_Klingen_%28detail_2%29.jpg

These are pointed, but rather long: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kite_shield

These may be how the modern US shields came to be: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heater_shield

Apparently these were made as they were easy to place one's heraldry on.

For the US highway shield, apparently it comes from the Great Seal.  If you look at some of the smaller shield used to represent the states, they're heater shields (see above): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Seal_of_the_United_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FirstCommitteeGreatSealObverseLossingDrawing.jpg

Look at the Seraphim Masi shield in his design for the Great Seal here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MasiTreatySealSkippet.jpg
Look familiar?  It's almost exactly like the shield used for the Interstates many, many years later.

The 1877 die has the shape at the bottom similar to the US highway shield: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_Great_Seal_1877_drawing.png

I strongly suspect that both shields, the US highways and the Interstates, were influenced by these above.

[agentsteel53]

the treasury seal was very much a familiar shape by 1862.



I find written mention of the treasury seal existing as early as 1782, but no picture of such.  it may be that shape that early as well.

[hm insulators]

Arizona's is also based on the state's shape.

[Henry]

Illinois used to use a state-shape shield until about 1955-1960.

Illinois introduced the state-named square in 1948, when the MUTCD specified oversize markers for junctions.  instead of attempting to scale up the state outline, they went with the square.

And then IN, MD, RI and SC adopted it. The only difference is that MD decided to draw another line between the state name and number; also, SC ditched the plain-Jane square for a more attractive blue-on-white version that also incorporated the state shape into it.

[Brandon]

Illinois used to use a state-shape shield until about 1955-1960.

Illinois introduced the state-named square in 1948, when the MUTCD specified oversize markers for junctions.  instead of attempting to scale up the state outline, they went with the square.

And then IN, MD, RI and SC adopted it. The only difference is that MD decided to draw another line between the state name and number; also, SC ditched the plain-Jane square for a more attractive blue-on-white version that also incorporated the state shape into it.

That's why I think the square may have been the 1940s equivalent of the circle, the default.

Check out the number of squares from 1948: http://routemarkers.com/states/1948/ on James Lin's page.
I count 13, not including some like Wyoming's.  There's a mere 4 circles, including New Mexico's Zia (not including Kansas's).  There's also 5 diamonds.  At least 2 of the square states went circle later on (Delaware, Vermont).  This is what leads me to believe that there may have been an older default than the circle shield.

[Henry]

Well, the only diamonds that most of the traveling population knows of are MI and NC. They would be surprised that FL, NE and OK also used them.

[agentsteel53]

Louisiana and Alabama used a diamond as well.