Stearns bike advertising poster with liberated woman of the time on the popular Yellow Fellow model in 1896. E. C. Stearns Bicycle Agency was established in 1893 by industrialist, Edward C. Stearns who began business as a hardware manufacturer and branched into bicycle production from 1893 through 1899 in Syracuse, New York. The poster art was created by Edward Penfield (1866-1925). He was prolific illustrator for many American publications like Harpers, Scribner's, Colliers, and Saturday Evening Post.