
THE MODERN AGE 1900–1950II
THE IMPACT OF INVENTION 1879–19331
THE MODERN BILLBOARD
OCEAN BREEZES ELECTRIC BILLBOARD
New York, New York, USA
Oscar J. Gude (1862–1925), Designer
New York, New York, USA
1891
A billboard (also known as a “hoarding” in the
United Kingdom and in many other areas of the
world) is a large outdoor advertising structure,
typically located alongside busy roads and in
high-traffic urban areas, that displays large-
scale commercial advertisements to passing
pedestrians and motorists.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the bill-
board took on many evolving forms in the built
environment. American showman P. T. Barnum
(1810–1891) ...