The large American outdoor poster (more than 50 square feet)
originated in New York in Jared Bell’s office where he printed
posters for the circus in 1835. In the beginning, American
roadside advertising was generally local. Merchants painted
signs or glued posters on walls and fences to notify the
passersby that their establishments up the road sold horse
blankets, rheumatism pills, etc. In 1850, exterior advertising
was first used on street railways. The earliest recorded
leasings of boards occurred in the U.S. in 1867. By 1870 close
to 300 small sign-painting and bill posting companies existed.
In 1872, the International Bill Posters’ Association of North
America was formed in St. Louis. In 1900, a standardized
billboard structure was created in America, and ushered in a
boom in national billboard campaigns. Confident that the same ad
would fit billboards from Connecticut to Kansas, big advertisers
like Palmolive, Kellogg, and Coca-Cola began mass-producing
billboards for the national market. By 1912, stan