American commercial streets were already filled with signage before the automobile was invented, and as automobiles became the preferred mode of travel, marketing along the nation’s streets evolved to reach customers motoring across the country. The growing popularity of auto-tourism made the roadside an important market for advertising. As roads like the Lincoln Highway were paved, advertisers reconsidered how signs were viewed through a windshield rather than from a carriage, sidewalk, or streetcar, and adjusted roadside signage accordingly. Companies made larger signs that could be read at higher speeds and placed them where drivers could see them as they passed. In the early 20th century, roadside advertising by local and national companies grew tremendously and took many forms, selling everything from auto necessities to toothpaste. At first, travelers encountered many small signs for local inns, service stations, and other businesses. Later, larger companies such as Standard Oil and Old Reliable Coffee used much larger billboards along the road. As more signs lined the roadways, many American towns grew concerned about landscape aesthetics and driver safety and sought legislative control through restrictions on the size, placement, and number of signs allowed along roads. Anti-billboard campaigns spread across the United States, and modest state regulations were enacted as early as the 1920s. Despite these efforts, signage continued to develop, with companies using even larger billboards on private property set back from the road, and products were also advertised on barns, including the Mail Pouch Tobacco Company’s well-known barn paintings.