Today, Highway Displays is the Hudson Valley’s largest independent billboard company, offering over 370 billboard locations across the Tri-State area. Our focus is the Mid-Hudson Valley, where we’ve been based for more than 100 years.
When Highway Displays was founded by Louis Schwartz in 1921, the Poughkeepsie business specialized in hand painting advertisements for local businesses.
Louis grew the company over the next 3 decades through partnerships with local landowners, and in 1949, Louis’ eldest son, Jules, began working for the company. Jules had recently served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Having been born and raised in Poughkeepsie, Jules took great pride in helping his father run the growing business.
Louis continued to helm the company until his death in 1969, at which time Jules took the reins.
By the mid-1980s, Highway Displays had significantly expanded its footprint by acquiring a handful of other local advertising companies. At that point, the family business owned and operated hundreds of billboards throughout the Mid-Hudson Valley, as well as parts of Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
In 1989, Jules’ son-in-law, Jeff Hartman, moved his family to Poughkeepsie and joined the thriving company as the new General Manager. Jules continued to oversee the business until his death in 1999, at which time his widow, Sandra, took over as President of the company. Jules was tremendously proud to have given fifty years of his life to the business his father started as an immigrant, nearly 80 years earlier.
Jules’ daughter, Marcy, joined Highway Displays in the Spring of 2000.
At the beginning of 2021, Jeff’s son, Evan, took over as General Manager. Evan has been with the company since 2008. At the start of 2024, Michael Schwartz, another grandson of Jules and Sandra, took over as Sales Manager.
Now being led by its fourth generation, Highway Displays looks to continue it’s growth throughout the Northeast.
