Editor’s note: This is the first in an occasional series by Wolfie Browender for Streets.mn.
The signs that bear the names of streets stand on nearly every corner in the United States and many other places. Much of the time these ever-present markers are all but ignored. They become important only when we visit an unfamiliar place, whether it’s an out-of-the-way spot in our town or in another locale. At that point, street name signs become an indispensable tool for getting to our destination, even with navigational aids like GPS and Google Maps.
The utilitarian purpose of street name signs requires they be simple and easy to read. As you might expect, federal regulators have crafted precise standards which cover the size, shape, color, and fonts used on street name and other road signs.
All this and much, much more is spelled out in a publication called the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).* Most street name signs have just the street name, although some municipalities add their logo, and even fewer feature another decorative adornment to their signs, which MUTCD regulations allow.
In this occasional series, I will feature street name signs from one or more communities along with some brief comments.
This inaugural post is about the street name signs of St. Paul. Having just said that these posts will be brief, I confess this one will be longer than any other because, living in St. Paul, I have seen and documented the greater-than-average variety of street name signs.
St. Paul’s official street name signs lean strongly toward the basic—but with an important addition. As you can see, the signs have white lettering on a green background, the most common color scheme for municipal street name signs in the U.S. The font of choice for St. Paul’s signs is Clearview Highway-1B. Older signs are printed in all capital letters, but since 2009, when regulations changed, new signs have upper- and lower case-letters—the first letter capitalized with the remainder in lower case. Some studies show signs with both upper- and lower-case letters are easier for drivers to read.
What makes St. Paul’s signs different and more informative than most is the addition of the block number on the lower right (above). Not only do you know what street you’re on, but one glance shows which block of the street.
Rondo Avenue was the heart of the primarily African American neighborhood of the same name wiped away for the Interstate 94 corridor through St. Paul. 
Marvin Anderson is one of two boyhood friends from the Rondo neighborhood who co-founded Rondo Days and the nonprofit Rondo Avenue Inc. The organization works to keep alive memories of the once vibrant Summit-University community. 
Floyd Smaller Jr. is the other co-founder of Rondo Days and the nonprofit Rondo Avenue Inc. 
Ron Ryan Jr., a St. Paul police officer, was killed in the line of duty in August 1994 in a parking lot at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Dayton’s Bluff. 
Minnesota native Bob Dylan had a Billboard top 10 hit in 1965 with “Positively 4th Street.” Located in Lowertown, this is the weakest of the honorary street names in St. Paul. 
The Mother Teresa of Calcutta Boulevard sign was added to two blocks of Old Kellogg Boulevard on Cathedral Hill in 2004. The road is across Summit Avenue from the Cathedral of Saint Paul. 
“Tiger Jack” Rosenbloom shined shoes and he and his wife Nurceal sold various and sundry items from a small store at this intersection for 57 years. Theirs was the last business in Rondo to close. The Rev. Dr. James Battle Sr. is honored for his work as a religious and civil rights leader. Among his accomplishments was organizing the Dr. Martin Luther King March at the Minnesota Capitol in 1979.
St. Paul has another, limited series of official street name signs around town. These honorary black-on-white signs, above, pay tribute primarily to people who have made notable contributions to St. Paul.
Lastly, a sample of street name signs on a few of St. Paul’s private thoroughfares, below.
Deer Park—no street, lane, drive, road or any other suffix—is marked by the more common black-on-white sign. Deer Park provides access to townhouses off Lexington Parkway South in the Highland Park neighborhood. 
Neither the font nor the size of the signs in the Bandana Square development meet MUTCD specs, but as private roads, they don’t have to. Bandana Square is in the Como neighborhood. 
In the Battle Creek neighborhood, Parkside Drive runs east off Ruth Street. 
Germain Landing, the only “Landing” in St. Paul, is a horseshoe-shaped private road off Hazelwood Street on the East Side.
* The first edition of the MUTCD was published in 1935 and was about 165 pages long. The current MUTCD is an 864-page tome that only an unrestrained group of bureaucrats could author.