Being
an observant city youth of the 1970's such as myself, one could always
tell when they had crossed the border from Baltimore City into
Baltimore County, just by looking at the street signs. Gone were
the familiar flat green signs with the cream stripes above and beneath,
crowned by a small plate denoting the block number. In their
place were unusual (to me) capsule type signs consisting of V shaped
frames with rounded end caps that held the individual sign boards in
place.
These "County Caps," as I came to call them, were installed in
Baltimore County beginning in the 1950's, and were the standard sign
before they began to get replaced beginning in the 1980's. In
place of the old caps now stand either small extruded rectangular signs
of large rounded sheet metal signs.
And of course, all the "county caps" are gone. Not quite...
Despite a rather extensive travel log through the area that has allowed
me to check countless installations for old surviving capsule signs, I
can count the number of known survivors on two hands. Some of
these have unusual circumstances. One is on private property on a
shopping center, while another is actually a block within the
city. Still another is of a slightly later design that differs
some from the traditional capsule set up.
I have previously posted photos of surviving "County Caps," only to see
them vanish scant months later, so I only hope I'm not jinxing these
few examples by posting these photos online as well.
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Perhaps the finest surviving example of a "County Cap" installation can
be seen in Essex at Martin Road and Renfrew Street, where this nice
example persists for now.
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Date scrawled on the stop sign is from 1990, perhaps indicating an
installation date. Fortunately, crews did not grab the old street
sign at the time.
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This old sign at Belair and Henry in Fullerton certainly shows its age,as the Henry sign shows bad fading.
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This installation at McDonough Road and Winands Road uses a slightly
different type of capsule sign with dimpled end caps and frames.
Another similar sign denotes Perimeter Drive at the Social Security
Complex in Woodlawn.
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Despite long ago being renamed from "Liberty Plaza Mall," the shopping
Center near Liberty and Old Court still has a sign designating it as
such at its Church Lane Entrance, which has since lost a 'Z' and an 'M.'
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Sitting a block within the Baltimore City limits is this sign pointing
the way towards County Streets , at Forest Park Avenue and Overcrest
Avenue. Note that this view looks West toward the County border,
and another city street sign is in full view.
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Not even its situation directly on the city-county line could save this
old capsule style sign at Boxwood and Thicket Roads in Charlesmead.
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For years, this sign at Morris and Bellona Avenues stood guard in Lutherville before vanishing in 2002.
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This sign at Rolling Road and Edmondson Avenue was largely overlooked
in favor of newer signs until someone dismantled it in 2003.
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