Stark, actually: Chew Mail Pouch

WHAT: Mail Pouch Tobacco barn

WHERE: 10446 Lincoln St. SE (U.S. Route 30) in Osnaburg Township

WHEN: This photo was taken the afternoon of Feb. 20.

THE STORY: From the 1920s to the 1970s, teams of painters painted as many as 20,000 Mail Pouch chewing tobacco advertisements on barns along rural U.S. highways. Through the years, many of the barns have been demolished, or their paint chipped, peeled and faded.

Harley Warrick, the last living Mail Pouch barn painter, often touched up the signs every few years. But he died in 1999; and Mail Pouch no longer maintains the ads.

Those that remain are tourist attractions for amateur photographers, eager to capture an image of a piece of Americana.

The Haubert barn was originally painted in the 1940s — it's one of several remaining in Stark County. Its painted sign was the most popular, a black background, with yellow letters for 'Mail Pouch Tobacco' and white letters for the rest.

Mail Pouch typically paid between $2 and $10 a year to owners of the barns for the ad space.

Reach Tim at 330-580-8333 ortim.botos@cantonrep.com.On Twitter: @tbotosREP