WHY show this example of tiled signage at the IND Smith-9th Street station, serving F and G trains? Well, they’re placed in sort of unique circumstances. The Independent Subway was created by the city (as I understand it; correct me in Comments) in the 1920s to compete with then-privately run Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) and Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit (BMT). In Manhattan and the Bronx they ran parallel with preexisting elevated lines run by the IRT and were partially meant to put the els out of business, which largely happened in Manhattan; Bronx and Brooklyn els stuck around. The city purchased the IRT and BMT and then unified them under one transit banner in 1940, though cars running on IRT tracks are too narrow to run on branches originally built for the other two.
The IND Crosstown Line was built in the 1930s, and like other IND routes runs underground, as a subway. Special circumstances, though, compelled the IND to build two elevated stations, at 4th Avenue/9th Street and Smith/9th. The colored tile signs designed for the IND were not employed at these two stations; rather, as seen here, white enamel signs with black lettering were used. They had to rise high over the Gowanus Canal to permit shipping to pass beneath.
The exception to this was at the east end of Smith-9th, where colored tile signs conforming to the Crosstown Line’s green color scheme were designed. They are the only IND color tile signs used outdoors. They are squarish, like no other ID tiling in the IND, but the usual IND letter font (I have never been able to ascertain the font name) was employed. And, when Smith-9th got a makeover in the 2010s with new station art and escalators, these tiles, some of which were worn and chipped, were lovingly restored, likely by the MTA sign shop (where I always wanted to work).
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3/27/26