Four generations of Arkansas sign contracting.

William Gustov Seiz moves his family from St. Louis to Hot Springs, Arkansas and opens a sign company downtown on Central Avenue near the present site of the Arlington Hotel. Originally called Seiz-Noakes Sign Company, the business opened in a small but booming town known for its natural thermal water bathhouses, hotels, restaurants and the spring training location for Major League Baseball teams.

The original partnership is dissolved and William Seiz takes over full ownership of the new sign company. He specializes in gold leaf lettering for office doors and small hand painted business signs for downtown merchants.

William Augustav (“Bill”) Seiz, the son of William Seiz, becomes the second generation to work in Seiz Signs. He begins in a management and sales position at the young age of 19 years old and immediately becomes active in the business community, joining the Business Men’s League, the forerunner of the Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce.

Hot Springs National Park was formed, becoming the 18th National Park. It consists of 5,549 acres, containing 47 hot springs with water coming to the surface at an average temperature of 143 degrees, which is too hot to soak in. The bathhouses are the way that people could soak in the thermal waters. The springs produce about 700,000 gallons per day. Hot Springs National Park is the only national park that protects a unique combination of lithology, geologic structure, and water sources that produce the only nonvolcanic geothermal springs of such high quality in the United States. Trivia: Al Capone and the other infamous gangsters who visited Hot Springs (which they called “Bubbles”) were not allowed to use the bathhouses because they were not allowed on the federally owned property.

Bill Seiz sees opportunities in new types of signs and broadens the company’s product offerings to include the newly developing neon signs and street and highway advertising with billboard signs.

Bill Seiz is diagnosed with tuberculosis, an often fatal disease before antibiotics were discovered in the 1940s. The best treatment at the time was sanatorium care in the dry air of Arizona with “fresh air, good food, and strict bed rest”. Bill Seiz recovered and returned from Arizona about a year later. The company barely survived in his absence but managed to keep its doors open through the efforts of his wife, Doris Seiz, and his brother Woodrow Seiz.

This period was difficult for the country as a whole and for Seiz Sign Company due to the Great Depression, economic turmoil caused by World War II, and the challenges caused by gangster led corruption in Hot Springs. Bill Seiz was opposed to the corruption which led to difficulty in expanding the company’s billboard locations because local citizens were told by the gangsters not to lease property to Bill Seiz. His workaround was to buy property, which benefitted the company in later years.

Bill Seiz served as the President of the Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce for 4 terms during World War II.

Seiz Sign Company is incorporated by Bill Seiz, who brings in the third generation as shareholders, Tyler Seiz (his son) and Carl Hamilton (his son-in-law). Bill Seiz becomes heavily involved in economic development in the greater Hot Springs area.

The company moves to its present address on Central Avenue. The property had been originally developed in the 1940s as a Packard car dealership.

The company produces and sells neon signs, channel letter signs, and the new fluorescent illuminated signs. The economy of Hot Springs slows down once the numerous illegal casino, gambling halls, and slot machine operations are closed by Governor Winthrop Rockefeller, the first Republican Governor in the State since Reconstruction, following the Civil War. Bill Seiz continues his extensive community service and economic development work and expands the billboard holdings to 120 sign faces, converting many to poster panel advertising displays.

Bill Seiz becomes less active in the business during the late 70s and turns over many management responsibilities to Tyler Seiz, a third generation family member.

The company begins a period of decline with contributing factors consisting of a lack of emphasis on the billboard division, shrinking from 120 faces to 53, lack of reinvestment in plant and equipment, and the failure to adopt new technologies.

Bill Seiz passes away on November 18, 1990.

Control of Seiz Sign Company is transferred to Caroline Seiz Campbell, Bill Seiz’s daughter.

David Hamilton, Bill Seiz’s grandson and a fourth generation family member, joins the company, and is elected President. David begins an immediate and substantial modernization process involving all aspects of the company. A computerized graphics department is added. Vinyl cutting equipment is purchased. The billboard division is expanded with steel monopole structures. Computers, faxes, internet connections, and modern business phone systems are implemented for the first time. David becomes involved in numerous community service organizations to continue his grandfather’s legacy.

Seiz Sign Company is selected as the Small Business of the Year by the Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce. The company continues its modernization process with the purchase of Elliott Equipment crane trucks.

The company greatly expands its billboard holdings through organic growth. The office areas are remodeled. The company begins selling programmable message center signs from Daktronics and WatchFire. The company begins selling and installing signs throughout the State of Arkansas. The company develops relationships with numerous national sign companies and begins handling installations in Arkansas for them. The company’s affiliate becomes a licensed contractor in Arkansas.

Tammy Hamilton joins Seiz Sign Company. Tammy is Vice-President and manages the billboard division of Seiz Sign Company. The company significantly expands its neon production facility and expands its channel letter business substantially. The company focuses on training with technicians becoming certified welders, licensed crane operators, and CDL drivers.

Seiz Sign Company and Daktronics, Inc. install the new scoreboard and video screens for War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

The company installs its first LED billboard sign.

Ronny Skipper, General Manager of Seiz Sign Company, and a fifth generation family member, joins the company. Arkansas enacted Act 1188 of 2009 requiring electrical work on signs and parking lot lights to be performed by a technician holding a specialist sign electrician license. David Hamilton and Ronny Skipper became two of the first to pass the sign electrician testing in Arkansas.

The company transitions from neon illumination to LED lighting in channel letters. Neon retires and the company closes its neon production facility.

The company becomes a trade ally with Entergy, offering incentives from CleaResult (an Entergy affiliate) to customers who convert their lighting systems to LED lighting from metal halides, fluorescents, and other older less efficient lighting fixtures.

The company survives the COVID pandemic through hard work and high quality customer service.

Seiz Sign Company modernizes once again, moving to cloud storage, new roll to roll and flatbed printers and graphic computers, new crane trucks, and new office work stations. All of our changes are geared to having the tools to provide our clients with exceptional service and quality products.