# Why no billboards on grain elevators? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 6, 2016, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-billboards-on-grain-elevators/756644 "2016-06-06T06:16:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-billboards-on-grain-elevators/756644/1 "2016-06-06T06:16:37Z")
I live in flyover country, and those elevators are typically near the highway, and can be seen for miles, yet I’ve never seen one holding a sign. [This is the type of elevator I’m talking about.](https://www.google.com/maps/@40.9175338,-96.5260822,3a,75y,256.4h,90.79t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sG0QroUW4o8NDMqoxItJ1tA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en) It’s not like it would spoil their beauty. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-billboards-on-grain-elevators/756644/2 "2016-06-06T07:28:49Z")
actually they used to paint ads on some of them way back when ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-billboards-on-grain-elevators/756644/3 "2016-06-06T10:07:18Z")
Ads get placed where lots of people will see them. Relatively few elevators abut Interstates. There used to be three along US 99 around Stockton CA. They were destroyed 20 years ago or so. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-billboards-on-grain-elevators/756644/4 "2016-06-06T12:42:31Z")
Not a grain elevator, but a barn: About 15 years ago, I was driving on I-70 heading West across Missouri. I saw a very large barn alongside the interstate with this advertisement painted on it’s side: > [@](#): > > **LIVE NUDES > AND BAIT SHOP** To this day it is still one of my favorite signs ever. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-billboards-on-grain-elevators/756644/5 "2016-06-06T14:07:22Z")
Perhaps it has something to do with the grain elevators being owned by co-ops of farmers? The ones in the area I lived in when really young were all owned by county grain grower co-ops. Would selling advertising space affect the co-op’s business/tax status? BTW, while some the elevators were located in remote places or in dying small towns, some were near major transportation hubs with nearby Interstates. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-billboards-on-grain-elevators/756644/6 "2016-06-06T14:28:50Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > Not a grain elevator, but a barn: > About 15 years ago, I was driving on I-70 heading West across Missouri. > I saw a very large barn alongside the interstate with this advertisement painted on it’s side: > To this day it is still one of my favorite signs ever. First thing that popped into my head when I read this: Lynyrd Skynyrd’s, _“That Smell”_ ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-billboards-on-grain-elevators/756644/7 "2016-06-06T15:59:04Z")
I thought of Randy Travis’\* Storms of Life\*. _An old Mail Pouch Tobacco sign Fadin’ on the barn_ Apparently [Mail Pouch Tobacco Barns](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_Pouch_Tobacco_Barn) were quite common, and barn owners were paid for the ads. ---
**Author:** ![Me\_Billy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Me\_Billy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Me_Billy)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-billboards-on-grain-elevators/756644/8 "2016-06-06T16:05:10Z")
Here is one with an ad painted on… [![](https://c7.staticflickr.com/1/25/56073590_4cf243eba3_b.jpg) ](https://c7.staticflickr.com/1/25/56073590_4cf243eba3_b.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-billboards-on-grain-elevators/756644/9 "2016-06-06T16:27:53Z")
Don’t give them any ideas! Somehow they forgot to sell all that space, and let’s keep it that way. But if they must, make them look like [giant beer cans.](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/3e/7f/d5/3e7fd5a5135f5134096bae9f2be72031.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-billboards-on-grain-elevators/756644/10 "2016-06-06T16:45:18Z")
Because they know to keep the bullshit in the fields. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-billboards-on-grain-elevators/756644/11 "2016-06-06T17:16:13Z")
I don’t recall seeing a grain elevator like the picture in the OP on the way to Tennessee but if there was one I’m sure it once had ‘See Rock City’ painted on the side. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-billboards-on-grain-elevators/756644/12 "2016-06-06T17:29:26Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Don’t give them any ideas! Somehow they forgot to sell all that space, and let’s keep it that way. > > But if they must, make them look like [giant beer cans.](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/3e/7f/d5/3e7fd5a5135f5134096bae9f2be72031.jpg) And those same silos are [now painted](http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/12028) as La Crosse Lager, The site was the G. Heileman Brewery, now City Brewing. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-billboards-on-grain-elevators/756644/13 "2016-06-06T22:29:04Z")
That may be an improvement, but that ain’t beer! ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-billboards-on-grain-elevators/756644/14 "2016-06-06T22:55:53Z")
My stepfather was a manager of such an elevator. It would have been unthinkable, in that small town, for an advertisement to be placed on the largest building in the town. They were co-op owned, owned by the farmers who brought their grain there for storage until it could be shipped on a train (hence the “elevator”, so grain cars could be loaded quickly). They were a pretty old-school, conservative group; bringing grain to the elevator was probably the only time they would wear work-clothes to town. The name of the elevator co-op would be in large letters, perhaps along with an association they belonged to (like Felco or Purina). It was almost scandalous when my stepfather had his name painted on the side as the manager. Plus the town was quite isolated; putting up an ad would have expensive compared to the number of people who would see it. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-billboards-on-grain-elevators/756644/15 "2016-06-07T15:49:19Z")
I much prefer [this](http://www.traingeek.ca/gallery2/d/10013-2/carey-grain-elevator-20100912-1.jpg) type of grain elevator. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-billboards-on-grain-elevators/756644/16 "2016-06-08T18:36:19Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > …Apparently [Mail Pouch Tobacco Barns](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_Pouch_Tobacco_Barn) were quite common, and barn owners were paid for the ads. Yup. If signs are your thing, visit the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati sometime - lots of cool stuff, including a neon workshop right on the premises: [http://www.americansignmuseum.org/](http://www.americansignmuseum.org/) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-billboards-on-grain-elevators/756644/17 "2016-06-08T18:43:14Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Yup. If signs are your thing, visit the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati sometime - lots of cool stuff, including a neon workshop right on the premises: [http://www.americansignmuseum.org/](http://www.americansignmuseum.org/) I’d hate to try to find the restrooms in that place.