New York, NY - Urban Archive

South of Union Square

Story

Your Ad Here: Signage of the Early 1900's

In 1835, artist and entrepreneur Jared Bell pioneered the large-format poster, which was rich with vivid colors to advertise a circus. By 1918, bold imagery and slogans calling attention to food, medicines, and entertainment filled New York's already saturated visual field.

By

New-York Historical Society

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2 Times Square

2 Times Square

These photographs were taken by the company Drucker & Baltes for use by the General Outdoor Advertising Company.

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2 Times Square

2 Times Square

Outdoor advertisements had long taken the form of flyers, broadsheets, and posters.

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2 Times Square

2 Times Square

Large chromo-lithographed posters were first introduced in 1835. They were pasted on the sides of buildings to advertise everything from Civil War recruitment to circuses and shows.

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2 Times Square

2 Times Square

By the 1880s, large posters appeared along elevated railways and streets.

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1540 Broadway

1540 Broadway

Advertisements were placed along busy intersections like Times Square as automobiles became more widely used.

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Orient Theatre

Orient Theatre

Ads of this scale were controversial, though incredibly profitable. Almost 300 ad companies were formed by the year 1870.

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Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street, southwest corner

Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street, southwest corner

Though we can appreciate the charm of these old posters today, New Yorkers at the time weren't so keen on them. City laws passed in 1918 restricted the use of billboards in residential neighborhoods.

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