A RAINY GOOD MORNING...AND THINGS YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW!!!!!

I was going to do some more work in the flower beds, but it is really, really wet out there, so instead I am going to share some of the history of Mail Pouch advertising with you.

First of all, I am not a smoker, never have been a smoker, am not trying to make smokers out of you readers, just want to share a very interesting part of our local history with you.

For background, in the early 1980's as I was advancing into some of the larger art shows, rather than the grade school stuff, I began having requests from potential customers asking if I had any Mail Pouch Barn pictures.  Mail Pouch Barn - what was that?  I started trying to get answers.  Some time later I happened to see a very small article in the newspaper that at Belmont Technical Branch in St. Clairsville, Ohio, there would be a program presented about Mail Pouch Barns, and one Harley Warrick would be the speaker.  As St. C was only about 40 minutes away, guess what?  I was there.

What a wonderful program and speaker.  Afterwards I introduced myself to Harley, told him I was trying to find and photograph as many Mail Pouch Barns as I could, and he volunteered to help in my travels.  A few days later I received a packet from him, listing, by state, then county, then route, where the MP barns were located that he had painted.  I still have these papers.

I was hooked, and have never completely gotten un-hooked.  Through him I got an appointment with the tobacco company, and they in turn supplied me with more of the history of the barns.

Talk about a steady seller.  I have regularly been selling my barn pictures for thirty years.  And, thanks to the tobacco company I have a very unique picture in my library of pictures.

An interested person mentioned to me that he had worked for the tobacco company and in their warehouse there hung a great sign.  No one actually knows where it came from, just that at one time as they were cleaning out a portion of the warehouse, this sign was found buried with other odds and ends of lumber. 

Where the sign was originally, how it came to be in the warehouse, the story behind it, I do not know, and do not know of anyone who does know.  If anyone out there has the info, I would dearly love to have you share.

So much for my involvement with the Mail Pouch barn history.  The following information I am going to share has been compiled from several sources.  I have made it as accurate as I possibly could, based on the info I have received.  A lot of the info came from the tobacco company itself.  I hope you will enjoy your history lesson.

MAIL POUCH BARNS

A PART OF OUR HISTORY

This advertising sign was only painted along the roadsides within an approximately 500 mile radius of Wheeling WV, where the tobacco company was located.  The reason - as the original "barn painters" traveled in horse-drawn wagons, they would be on the road for 6-7 months at a time, staying with the owners of the barn they were painting.  Hence the limitation of area.

HOW WAS MAIL POUCH NAMED?

In 1879 two brothers - Aron and Samuel Bloch - owned a dry goods (general store) in Wheeling West Virginia. On the second floor of this building they employed women to roll cigars (stogies).

The ends of the cigars were clipped for smoking.  The clippings were bunched together and left in a pile.  One of the brothers got the idea of mixing these clipping with a type of flavoring and placed in a jar in the store for sale as chewing tobacco.  As licorice as the main added flavoring of this era, it was used to sweeten the taste of the tobacco.

The tobacco sold quickly, and it soon became hard for the brothers to keep up with the demand.  They began to ship the material to wholesalers as business picked up, and the wholesalers would package  the material with their own  brand names.  By 1890 the brothers decided they wanted to package the tobacco themselves and ship it nationwide.  BUT - they needed a name for the product.  To decide on a name they held a contest at the general store.  Different names were written down on paper and put in a jar by the customers.

It is important to remember that during this period of time there were no automobiles nor telephones.  The only way for communication over long distances was the U S Mail.  The main social activity for people during the late 1800's was to congregate at the general store.  The mailman would often bring stories of neighboring towns and villages as well as mail for the people of the community.

Needless to say, it was the mailman who entered the suggestion MAIL POUCH CHEWING TOBACCO, and it was due to his importance and popularity in the community and the country that it was chosen.  The name was based on the mail pouches in which the mail was carried as it was being delivered by horseback.  At that point in time everyone in the country could relate to the choice of MAIL POUCH..

And, so in 1890 the BLOCH BROTHERS TOBACCO COMPANY was founded, manufacturing WEST VIRGINIA MAIL POUCH chewing tobacco.

Enough for history today.  Tomorrow, if there are no earth-shattering events to dwell upon, I will continue the story of Mail Pouch, and how the advertising on buildings came to be.

And now, since it is too wet to work out, I will begin the process of matting and framing my new work for the Boston Mills Art Festival at the end of the week.

Enjoy your day and God Bless.