Street signs in Chicago

Larger signs, located at intersections with stoplights, also include the street's numerical position within Chicago's grid system.

Brown signs with white text were used in the Loop, but in residential neighborhoods street names were painted onto poles or simply left undisclosed.

In 1936, a federal grant allowed the city to install 64,000 yellow signs with black text for street names, but most were melted down for their metal in World War II.

[1] In 1981, Mike Royko attempted to rename a stretch of Evergreen Avenue in honor of Nelson Algren, who had long lived on the street.

[4] To avoid repeating the incident, it was decided to start naming such streets honorarily rather than impact any addresses.

A street sign for Archer Avenue in Chinatown; the sign indicates that this location is south of Madison Street.
A sign for 26th Street at an intersection with a stoplight. It is much bigger, and includes the street's numerical position – 2600 S – in Chicago's grid.
Comparison between a street sign with all-capital letters (Liberty Street) and another with mixed-case letters ( Halsted Street )
West 22nd Place, honorarily named "Confucius Place", in Chinatown.