History of Billboards

Johannes Gutenberg invented Movable Printing

Sep 19, 1450

The origin of "movable" doesn't originate if you can move it to one place to the other, but how many pieces of paper can it move out from the press itself. The average day would be 260 pages.

Creation of US Billboards

Jun 10, 1830

In the 1830 local billboards were created and used for local purposes.

International Bill Posters’ Association of North America was Formed

May 6, 1872

This is one of the first units used to paint and setup industry billboards.

The National Outdoor Advertising Bureau (NOAB)

Mar 23, 1915

This group was created so companies could do field research and see what other billboards were displaying.

The Fulton Group and the Cusack Co. Merge

Sep 7, 1927

The two largest outdoor marketing companies merge and then becoming the first outdoor marketing company to be listed in the New York Stock Exchange.

A Standardized Billboard

Dec 19, 1930

Big industries, like Coca-Cola, started taking advantage of this advertisement and setup a national organization running out of Michigan.

OAAA introduces the OBIE Awards

Jun 7, 1942

The OBIE Awards were created to give the best billboard a reward.

The Highway Beautification Act

Oct 22, 1965

This act was created to control where and how billboards were presented along federal highways/state highways.

More Artistic Billboards

Sep 19, 1980

Billboards developed more artistically and dramatically through the 1970s into the 1990s.

Digital Billboard

Nov 9, 2005

The first digital billboard were installed in 2005.

Billboards Today

Sep 19, 2016

Billboards have come along way and now they are everywhere.