Non-traditional paint job on Mail Pouch barn in Belmont County, Ohio.
Since I brought up the subject of Mail Pouch tobacco barns a few days ago, I thought I would write a bit more about them. Some quick research showed me I was wrong to say there were never any Mail Pouch barns in Tennessee, but truthfully, I've never seen any in my extensive travels around the state.
The Bloch Brothers Tobacco Company of Wheeling, West Virginia first began painting "Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco" on barns in 1897. By the 1960s there were more than 20,000 Mail Pouch barns in 22 states. Most of the ones still in existence are in the Midwest and were painted by Harley Warrick,the last of the Mail Pouch barn painters.
Noble County Ohio, probably Ohio Highway 147 near Batesville.
Beginning his career just days after returning from World War Two, he criss-crossed the Midwest for nearly 50 years, painting and repainting the red, yellow, and black Mail Pouch signs. When he finally hung up his brushes in 1992, it was the end of Mail Pouch Tobacco barn painting – and the end of an era.
Another Mail Pouch barn on Ohio 147 in Noble County.
When I was working on the Rock City Barns book I photographed Mail Pouch barns whenever I found them, accumulating enough to make a good start on a book.
There are quite a few Mail Pouch barn fans, mostly in the Midwest, and they have an organization called The Barnstormers devoted to preserving the barns. Their annual meeting and picnic is in Harley Warrick's home town. I attended one in 2003, hoping to interest them in supporting my efforts to publish a book of the barns. They looked at my Rock City Barns book with polite interest; in fact, some of them had copies. But at that time they were mostly interested in a book that Harley Warrick's son was working on. So nothing came of my trip except photos of more barns that I found along the way. Here are some of them.
Indiana Highway 135, north of Corydon.
Photos: These pictures were all made with my first digital camera, the six megapixel Canon EOS 10D and Canon EF 28-105 and 20-35L lenses.The photos are all from 2003 and my notes are a little sketchy. I've identified the barns as best I could, but I can't swear my captions are exactly correct.
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Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.
I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.
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