When did they change the street signs from black letters on yellow back ground? My neighbor gave me a street sign that has our street name as a street not an avenue. Was that when they made the change? What year was that?

Happened in our neighborhood in the mid 70's

Here's Two fairly recent Forgotten Chicago articles on Yellow Street Signs:

[b][url=http://forgottenchicago.com/columns/yellow-street-signs/]Yellow Street Signs[/url][/b]

[b][url=http://forgottenchicago.com/columns/disconnected-yellow-signs/]Disconnected Yellow Signs[/url][/b]

Sold sign update.

W. Olive Av.- $178.50

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1950s-porcelain-Chicago-street-sign-yellow-and-black-W-Olive-Av-ex-cond-/261136731940?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&nma=true&si=NKeaBDhkiegLOK6amLVOfG3mw%2Fs%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

N. Moody Av.- $242.50

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Vintage-Chicago-Yellow-Porcelain-Street-Sign-N-Moody-Ave-/150963630696?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&nma=true&si=NKeaBDhkiegLOK6amLVOfG3mw%2Fs%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

N. Albany Av.- $150.00

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Chicago-Porcelain-Painted-2-sided-Street-Sign-N-Albany-Avenue-Ave-/200871323099?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&nma=true&si=NKeaBDhkiegLOK6amLVOfG3mw%2Fs%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

N. Paris Av.- $185.00

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Chicago-Porcelain-Painted-2-sided-Street-Sign-N-Paris-Ave-/200871326510?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ec4dd332e&nma=true&si=NKeaBDhkiegLOK6amLVOfG3mw%2Fs%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

You missed a set of 4 green ones.
Clark, Addison, Waveland & Sheffield



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2015 07:30PM by ChicagoHal.

Yellow N. Harlem

Yellow S. Wentworth



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2015 07:31PM by ChicagoHal.

N. Broadway

N. Whipple



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2015 07:50PM by ChicagoHal.

Little bit of trivia for everyone: when you retire from the City's Department of Transportation, the Division of Signs and Markings makes a boulevard sign with your name on it (brown background with white lettering). This started when the City switched to the aluminum extrusion signs. I got mine when I took early retirement from CDOT in 2010 (was a Traffic Engineer IV).

And no, my Weiner Blvd. sign is [b][u]not[/u][/b] for sale!

Thanks Hal, looks like I was sleepin on the job. I'm awake now and will resume my continuation of this thread once some signs that are up now sell. Thanks!

From 1974-ish to 1977 the green signs were installed.

A few more sold signs.

W. Argyle St.- $104.49

W. 69th St.- $237.06

These are VERY cool and I have wanted one for a while now!



Keep Chicago Clean - No Littering Sign- $260.33

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-original-KEEP-CHICAGO-CLEAN-No-LITTERING-Street-Sign-metal-18-/160981093085?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&nma=true&si=BGnqwYOCc4zz%252BnirpMxpi3IGmZ8%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

Keep Chicago Clean - No Littering Sign- $100.00 ***Someone STOLE this one!!! (Wish that it would have been me!)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-CHICAGO-STREET-SIGN-/121051531087?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c2f3bc74f&nma=true&si=BGnqwYOCc4zz%252BnirpMxpi3IGmZ8%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

SJMR asked:

When did they change the street signs from black letters on yellow back ground? My neighbor gave me a street sign that has our street name as a street not an avenue. Was that when they made the change? What year was that?

It was mostly in the 1970's, to comply with the Federal Manual On Uniform Traffic Control Devices (you can Google it, and D/L copies of the manual, BTW). It is a standard called D-3-1. The large signs you see on signal mast arms are called D-3-2's.

Check out these old street signs for Jackson Blvd. & Franklin. What era are they from?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Historic-Downtown-Chicago-Street-Sign-Jackson-Franklin-Sears-Tower-Antique-/380602897318?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item589db353a6

Berwyn Frank Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Check out these old street signs for Jackson Blvd.
> & Franklin. What era are they from?
>
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/Historic-Downtown-Chicago-
> Street-Sign-Jackson-Franklin-Sears-Tower-Antique-/
> 380602897318?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item589db3
> 53a6


I'm not an expert on this and could very well be wrong, but the fact that those signs are one sided and have the odd bracketing system on the non-printed side suggests to me they may have been mounted to a building. In which case they may not have been official city-issued street signs, but rather a sign put up by the owner of the building on that corner.

If my theory is true I think the value of the signs would be way less than $2500. But again I could be completely wrong.

This is an ineresting photo on ebay claiming it's from 1959.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chicago-Best-Political-Cush-Job-Dusting-City-Signs-Bill-Marszewski-1959-Photo-/260986693292?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item3cc404e6ac[/img]
I was under the impression these signs were not installed until the 70's



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/2013 03:04PM by JimboS.

I think that is a valid claim, it is a Chicago Park District street sign in Douglas Park. CPD signs were a different color at that time and a B&W photo won't show it's true colors of brown and white. The sign reads Sacramento Dr. which was a Park designation, there is also Sacramento Ave. and Blvd.

I just noticed the pole with the cement base, and it's motif of milkweed and cat-tails. That was a different time, when small details like that meant something in America. Today it seems like utilitarian is the norm all too often.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/2013 04:44PM by b.a.hoarder.

JimboS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This is an ineresting photo on ebay claiming it's
> from 1959.
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chicago-Best-Political-Cus
> h-Job-Dusting-City-Signs-Bill-Marszewski-1959-Phot
> o-/260986693292?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item3cc40
> 4e6ac
> I was under the impression these signs were not
> installed until the 70's

It looks like it [u]might[/u] have been in a park, which would mean these may have been under Chicago Park District control up to 1959, when the City took over the boulevards. As I understood it, the Park District was the first agency in the City to use the aluminum sign, with brown backgrounds and white letters, but since this is a B&W picture, it isn't clear if that is the case. However, the aluminum ladder makes me think it may be a more-recent picture, not 1959, since wooden ladders seemed to be the norm back in the 50's and 60's.

The city did put up some decorative Light posts recently as you can see by these pictures of Jackson Blvd(by Ashland)

In regards to the Jackson and Franklin sign on ebay - I was going through the photos on Chicagopast.com and came across a 1937 photo of Wilson and Sheridan. The Street sign depicted looks a lot like the Jackson one's construction, so maybe it is a real Official Chicago sign.




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/2013 01:06AM by JimboS.

JimboS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In regards to the Jackson and Franklin sign on
> ebay - I was going through the photos on
> Chicagopast.com and came across a 1937 photo of
> Wilson and Sheridan. The Street sign depicted
> looks a lot like the Jackson one's construction,
> so maybe it is a real Official Chicago sign.
> http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8093/8581960240_8733
> d05352.jpg

Looks like they are an older version of the Park District's boulevard signs.