collations
Toronto’s “acorn” street signs, otherwise known as “Roscos,” were a result of the City of Toronto’s Special Committee on Improved Street Lighting, Traffic Control Signals and Street Name Signs of 1947. Among the Committee’s tasks was a rationalization of street signage in use around the city, which ranged from wooden signs on wooden poles in the ‘suburban’ areas to those blue enamel street signs, many of which are still affixed to the sides of buildings throughout Toronto. The “Rosco” design was the winner amongst several options. It was manufactured by Rosco Metal & Roofing Products Ltd, whose Toronto facilities were located on Dupont Street, at Shaw Street, where the Sobeys is now. This company had operations across Canada and went on to become Westeel-Rosco Ltd. The “acorn” signs, their Standard Series of street name sign assemblies, and a variant, their Economy Series, were at one time in use in several municipalities in Canada. Toronto’s “acorn” signs have seen three generations, the first being the 3-D acorn with raised lettering, the second being the 3-D acorn with flat lettering, a product of the 1980s, often incorporating neighbourhood names, as seen in the photo above, and the third and final version being the over-sized flat acorn with flat lettering that saw brief life before the introduction of the current street name signage.
