Citation

Keller G. IMSA J. 2008; 46(4): 34, 36, 38.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, International Municipal Signal Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article discusses the history of decorative traffic signal poles. Traffic lights were in use before the automobile in London from 1868-1869. Later, in 1920 in Michigan a police officer made the first three-color light, leading to the creation of the first decorative traffic signal poles in Detroit. Others developed automatic traffic lights, leading to the installation of many new decorative traffic signals in the 1920s and 1930s. Yet as more cars were on the roads and streets got wider, decorative cast iron signals could not support the long arm needed to hoist a signal over the middle of an intersection and the new design that could hold the arm was not decorative at all. In the 1960s and 1970s, manufacturers began to remake old designs in newer modern materials that were able to be ornate while holding the mast arm over the intersection. The author notes that there has been a major comeback in decorative traffic signal poles recently due to the availability of new, better materials.