Mail Pouch Tobacco barn facts for kids
A Mail Pouch barn is a farm building with a special advertisement painted on its side. These barns promoted "Mail Pouch Tobacco," a product from the Bloch Brothers Tobacco Company in West Virginia. The company ran this advertising program for over 100 years, from 1891 to 1992. At its most popular in the early 1960s, there were about 20,000 Mail Pouch barns. They were spread across 22 different states!
Where You Could Find Them
You could find these unique barns in many states. This included Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, and Ohio. They were also in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Connecticut, and California. Sadly, many of these old barns are now falling apart or have been torn down.
The barns were usually painted by hand. They often had black or red backgrounds with bright yellow or white letters. The message always read: "Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco--Treat Yourself to the Best." Sometimes, thin blue lines bordered the message on the left and right sides.
Why Farmers Liked the Deal
At first, barn owners were paid a small amount each year for the advertisement. This was about $1 or $2, which would be like $20 to $40 today. But the money wasn't the main reason farmers agreed. The most important thing was that they received a fresh coat of paint for their barn. This new paint helped protect the wood and keep the barn strong.
Mail Pouch would paint their ad on one or two sides of the barn. This depended on how well it could be seen from the road. Sometimes, they would add another ad for "Kentucky Club" pipe tobacco. The company would also paint the other sides of the barn any color the owner wanted. Many barns were repainted every few years to keep the colors bright and clear.
The Barn Painters
After World War II, many of these barn ads were painted by a man named Harley Warrick. He was from Belmont County, Ohio. Harley once guessed that he had painted ads on 20,000 barns in his lifetime. He spent about six hours painting each one. Harley Warrick had a special way of starting each barn. He always began by painting the letter "E" in the word "Chew."
Other painters also worked on the barns. These included Mark Turley, Don Shires, and Dick Green. You can sometimes find their initials on the barns. They would often put their initials and the date of painting on the blue border or near the roof.
Saving the Barns
In 1965, a law called the Highway Beautification Act was passed. This law aimed to limit the number of advertisements placed near highways. However, Mail Pouch barns were special. They were considered historic landmarks, so they were allowed to stay. This helped save many of these unique barns.
In 1992, the company that owned Mail Pouch Tobacco, Swisher International Group, stopped the barn advertising program. This happened when Harley Warrick retired.
During the early 1900s, many companies paid farmers to use their barns for ads. Other tobacco products and local stores also advertised this way. But Mail Pouch was unique because its ads were so widespread and consistent across many states.
