Back in the day, flashing green indications were common in several states and provinces. In early 3-circuit and 4-circuit signals the main street green indications were on the same circuit as cross street reds and vice versa. When one of those signals went into flash mode, it had to flash green on the main street and red on the cross street. In some instances, beacons used the same color conventions.

Flashing green can still be found in Massachusetts and a few Canadian provinces. In the USA, flashing green was used to denote either an intersection where cross traffic could be entering (as yellow is used today) and more recently for a signal at an intersection where the signal only controls traffic for pedestrians to cross. In some of those instances cross traffic might enter. As Canadian examples, in British Columbia flashing green is used at pedestrian crossings where nearby cross traffic is controlled only by a stop sign. In Ontario flashing green indicates an "advance green," meaning that oncoming traffic still has a red light and it is safe to make a left turn.

This particular beacon only has two indications, indicating that it likely was installed at the intersection of two one-way streets.

The original beacon likely had a Reynolds Time-O-Matic flash controller. It now has an Artisan solid state flash controller.