The History of Road Signs

The first stop sign appeared in Detroit in 1915, but it didn’t look anything like it does today. The New York Times reports that the first stop sign was a 2-foot square metal sheet that had black letters on a white background. The stop sign, and many of the other signs created to help guide motorists and provide important information, evolved over the decades into the recognizable shapes we’re accustomed to today.

In 1923, the shapes of signs started to evolve. After the first square stop sign, other signs with more sides were designed to indicate a higher level of danger. A circular sign denoted the most risk, thanks to what can be seen as its infinite number of sides. As a result, circular signs were recommended for railroad crossings. The stop sign adopted an octagonal shape, which signaled the second-highest level of danger. Diamond-shaped signs were designed to provide warnings, while rectangular signs were intended to provide information. Setting standardized shapes for certain signs made sense since lighting wasn’t always ideal at that time. The thought was that it would be easier for drivers to react to known shapes, even if they couldn’t read the signs at night.

Color is also an important part of road signs today. Many drivers know what a sign means simply by those factors alone. Some of those sign colors go all the way back to 1924, when officials began discussing which color combinations to use on various types of signs. Stop signs were originally yellow in color, and the nationwide change to red didn’t come until years later in 1954. Now, stop signs have been red for so long that many people don’t remember it any other way!


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