When traffic lights were first being installed around the country, it was most common for the signal heads to be mounted on top of pedestals about 8 feet tall on the corner, or on an “island” in the middle of the intersection. The signals also could simply be mounted to the side of utility and streetlamp posts, sometimes with only one light facing each approach. These low-mounted signals are still used today, but they are usually auxiliary to signals hanging overhead. This page shows some New Jersey installations from the pedestal era.
Vintage Pedestal Photos
In this section, I will post vintage photos from around the state, mostly culled from the RC Maxwell advertising company’s archive kept online at Duke University. Click these photos to see the full size version.
In many busy intersections of the early years, the simple flashing island beacon was used to keep traffic flowing where it was supposed to. The American Gas Accumulator beacon on the left was photographed in Jersey City in 1927. The graphic on the right, from an AGA advertisement, provides a reminder that children once freely roamed the planet.
‘Corder-hinged’ Horni pedestal signal clusters control a trolley crossing in Newark around 1950.
Also in Newark, this lovely pedestal by the Adams Theater holds a pair of GE “streamline” signals and a Newark-spec ONE WAY sign in the 1950s.
Main Avenue, Clifton
I can remember when the entire length of Main Avenue in my original hometown of Clifton was still controlled by pedestal signals. These were all replaced by overhead signals in the early 1980s, which are still there today and looking pretty outdated themselves. The next two photos below are from Clifton’s Main Avenue back in the pedestal signal days.
A pedestal at the corner of Main & Clifton Avenues is topped by a 4-way cluster of late 1940s Marbelite heads with uniquely scalloped “AGA/SSC” style visors. Marbelite was still using up surplus visors from their takeover of Signal Service Corp at the end of 1945.
At Main & Harding (one block to the north of the previous photo), the performer on stilts celebrating Clifton’s Jubilee in 1967 is less interesting to me than that nifty, finial-topped, fixed-face 4-way ‘corner-hinged’ Horni signal, circa 1930. I remember this light still being there when I was a kid, as it looked very unique.
Ocean Avenue, Asbury Park
In 1926, Horni Manufacturing Corp. of Newark NJ and NYC, an early pioneer in traffic control, equipped Asbury Park’s Ocean Avenue with these cool variations of their Type 950 pedestal signals. These lights, with their small, uniquely shaped lenses, were specifically selected for their looks, as well as their integrity with the decorative lighting standards in the middle of the avenue. This installation was documented in a small article in The American City Magazine in July 1926.
Based on the photos I have seen from the RC Maxwell collection, these signals were removed sometime before 1945, and were not immediately replaced. It must have been difficult having no traffic signals on Ocean Avenue, and by 1949, it was re-designated as a one-way street, thus creating what was known locally as “The Circuit”. However, even with this traffic pattern, the steady increase in volume meant that traffic lights would ultimately return to Ocean Avenue.
A Horni Type 491 signal stanchion controls traffic and keeps everyone, well… safer, at the bend where Asbury Ave meets Ocean Ave in Asbury Park. This was essentially a crosswalk signal application.
I believe we are looking at Essco signals in both of the above photos. Essco was more widely used in the Midwest than the East Coast. On the left, we see Essco 2-way clusters in Palmyra in 1937, with a 1927-spec NJ Route S-41 shield also visible just before the railroad underpass. On the right, a 4-way signal that looks Essco-ish adds a lovely touch to the scene at the corner of Lafayette Ave and Diamond Bridge Ave in Hawthorne in 1930. Anyone who can positively identify the make of this signal is encouraged to send me a note through the Contact page.
My best guess is that the OUT ON GREEN ONLY sign (in the Palmyra photo) had the same meaning as MOVE ON GREEN ONLY in the Edgewater signal below.
This Edgewater pedestal has a Crouse-Hinds solid body signal with the visors turned 90 degrees. The MOVE ON GREEN ONLY sign may be a precursor to DELAYED GREEN – WAIT, indicating that opposing traffic had an extended green, with or without an arrow.
The Edgewater Ferry sign hanging over the corner is a real gem – I wonder if that is in someone’s basement somewhere…
This is the intersection of US-1 (then NJ Route 25) with Milltown Road in North Brunswick. The intersection was once controlled by pedestal-mounted ‘corner-hinged’ Horni signals. Today, it is a multi-lane overpass with ramps. Cook College, my alma mater, is about a mile ahead of this location.
Just a few miles up the road in downtown New Brunswick, we find circa 1920s Crouse-Hinds Type T signals with decorative hardware at the corner of George & Albany Streets.
The mosaic above is from four Trenton intersections in the 1930s-40s.
- A handsome GE Novalux 4-way signal on a fluted steel pole made by Union Metal.
- Crouse-Hinds Type T signals on the left corner and fixed-face on the right.
- Less-often seen, shallow porthole-style signals by Crouse-Hinds. Are these older than the solid cast Type T signals, or did they come in between the Type T and Type D? I believe they may be older, although that would mean Crouse-Hinds went from a tie-rod design to a solid cast design then back again.
- Pedestal-mounted adjustable signals by American Gas Accumulator
There are lots of other spectacular treats, including street lamps, fire alarm boxes, business signs and murals and guide and route signs.
Changing of the Guard in Vineland
A very old porthole-style signal on an island pedestal, seen in operation ca. 1960 on the left, is being replaced by a modern set of horizontal signals with 12″ lenses in the 1972 newspaper clipping on the right. The newspaper caption mentions the prohibition of truck parking in the center lane, which we see an example of in the earlier photo.
An old police-operated 4-way (Essco?) still in use in Burlington in the ’50s.
Four-way signals on Union Metal poles in Jersey City, looking a little worn already in this photo from the ’50s or early ’60s… The signal in the foreground is a GE Novalux with angled doors.
Somerville : Upgrade from Pedestals to Overhead Masts
The two postcards above were photographed in Somerville only a short time apart in the 1960s. The original signals in the left photo are pedestal-mounted AGA-style heads, possibly dating back as far as the 1920s, with only one signal per approach. Another cool thing in the photo are the green circle NJ Route 28 signs mounted below the Main Street signals. My sign collection includes a green NJ 208. In the 1968 photo on the right, the upgraded intersection features brand new Marbelite signals on truss rod masts, along with updated black square highway signs. Note that there is a new Marbelite pedestal on the far left corner, erected as an auxiliary to the new overhead signals.
Bound Brook has lots of good Mexican food these days, but no more pharmacies with a soda fountain, nor any finial-topped AGA signals like this one controlling the corner of Main & Hamilton.
Linden grammar school students in 1950 cross the street at a ‘corner-hinged’ Horni signal that was installed about ten years before they were born.
From Todd Jacobson’s wonderful Flickr albums, this photo was taken on Valley Road in Montclair in 1992. I believe the signal heads are GE “Groovebacks”. They look more modern than the ornate pedestal, but when you consider that Groovebacks were first made in 1937, this could be 100% original.
I lived within a few miles of this location for much of my life, and I remember a lot of old pedestals like this still working across Essex County well into the 1990s. Sadly, they’re close to (if not) 100% gone now.
Pedestal-Era Survivors
Summit: AGA Safety Zone Beacons
These late 1920s American Gas Accumulator “safety zone” signals in Summit could be the oldest signals in service in New Jersey. As of this writing, they are still operating, retrofitted with LEDs.
The 4-way beacon in the top row is still beautifully maintained at the corner of Maple St and Union Pl. The beacon in the second row is on Broad Street. Despite having a Mark-IV signal stuck on top, it is still incredible and lovely. The blank doors are cool – interestingly, one of them is incorporated into the housing while the other two are latched.
All of the beacon photos were taken in 2021 by Malcolm MacPherson.
West New York 4-Ways
Kevin Mueller photos
The old urban municipalities in Hudson County are known by signal fans as one of the best enclaves of old signals in service in the country. These photos of old 4-way pedestal signals were taken in 2017 by Kevin Mueller.
The photos above show Marbelite signals from the late 1940s. The blank doors with the “X” are a rare bird indeed. I have only seen one other signal, in the town of Rye, NY, with these blanks. The short, horizontal cutaway visors and the stubby finial are typical of the older Horni signals that Marbelite inherited in 1947. The cracked “emerald green” lens seen in the last photo is a rare Marbelite No. 6540 lens.
More pedestal 4-ways from West New York by Kevin Mueller, including two slightly more “modern” Marbelites and an AGA-style signal that could have been made by either AGA, SSC or Marbelite. We would need to see the ID tag to know for sure.
War-Time Horni Bakelite Signals in East Rutherford
Several years ago, New Jersey collector Chris Sebes posted an unusual looking pair of old signals that were mixed in with newer heads at an East Rutherford intersection. After some discussion among several collectors, we identified them as Horni Signal heads made of Bakelit, an early form of rigid plastic, typically used for old telephones, during the war-time restrictions on aluminum. No doubt these are the last of their kind…an exceptionally cool find! The three Google images below are of the pair that Chris spotted:
A couple years later, collector David Prince made his way to this intersection with camera in hand, and although the dual lights above were gone, he spotted another Bakelite signal tucked away next to a telephone pole across the street, which he got great photos of (below), along with this video.
Pedestal Hornis – A Rare Collector’s Find
Here’s a truly amazing collecting score. Ohio collector Jay Jenkins acquired a pair of Horni corner-hinged signals with cast tunnel visors and full mounting hardware, like those seen in the black and white photo from Newark (below). His signals came from New Jersey, perhaps Newark, and it is the only survivor like it that I know of.
My Pedestal-Era Signal Photos
Signal heads from the pre-WWII era were still around in decent numbers when I was growing up, but they were nearly gone by the time I ever tried to photograph any of them. Here are the few classics that I was able to capture. These are not all pedestal-only installations, but they are from the era when pedestals were predominant and mast arms were less common.
Union Hornis
In 2003, I discovered this pair of corner-hinged Horni signals at the intersection of Vauxhall Road and Glenn Avenue in Union. Like the Mahwah AGA further down this page, this is a location a bit outside a commercial center, so it is surprising that traffic signals were installed here before WWII. I lost the original resolution images from this day long ago, sadly.
The working head had the original red and emerald green Kopp #27 lenses. The other head was wrapped in plastic due to the reversal of the one-way direction on Glenn Ave.
Incredibly, these survived for about another ten years after I took the photos. Heaven knows, I tried to get a hold of these signals by contacting Union Township and Union County several times, but to no avail. These were likely the last solid-cast Hornis left in New Jersey. Maybe they’ll show up for sale one of these days…
Newark: The Last GE Novalux?
GE signals were very popular in Newark. In 2005, I spotted this solid-cast 1930s GE Novalux still going there. The lenses were the original GE Holophane “spider web” glass lenses. Sadly, his light was replaced soon after I found it. There are still many modular GE signals in Newark today, but I’m not sure if any solid-cast Novaluxes are left.
Mahwah: AGA on Union Metal Pedestal
When I worked in Bergen County in the early 2000s, I discovered a ca. 1930 AGA signal on a Union Metal pedestal at Franklin Turnpike and Miller Road in Mahwah. I’m almost amazed to think that any signals were installed so long ago in Mahwah when it was a mostly forested section of the former Hohokus Township. What’s more amazing was to find this light still standing more than 70 years later.
The original lenses were large bead Cornings, but I did not take photos until they were replaced by LEDs. The original photos I took of this signal are lost, but the first two shots here are lower-resolution copies I recovered later. The two closeups of the American Gas Accumulator tag on the right were taken by Ed Tapanes. This signal was, sadly, removed in 2007 or 2008.
A similar AGA-style signal that served in Bergen County was recently found at an estate sale.
Garden State Signals 
