Before there were billboards, there were barns.

Lester Dill bought Meramec Caverns in 1933 and immediately set about promoting it with an approach that was either brilliant or slightly unhinged, depending on your tolerance for audacity. He would drive out into the countryside and find a farmer. He’d come with a pocket watch, a box of chocolates, and lifetime passes to the cave. The deal: let me paint your barn, and I’ll paint the whole thing for free. You just have to let me put our name on it.

At the promotion’s height, Meramec Caverns barn signs could be found in 14 states — the majority in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and Arkansas. Sign experts estimate there were over 400 barn signs created.

One man painted most of them. Jim Gauer, by himself, painted the Meramec Caverns logo on more than 350 barns in 14 states. Think about that for a moment. One man, a brush, a ladder, and the long American highway. He wasn’t an artist in any way the art world would recognize. He was something stranger — a human billboard, moving slowly across the Midwest, leaving his mark on other people’s property with their grateful permission.

Dill also pioneered the bumper sticker — then called bumper signs, because vinyl and adhesive hadn’t been invented yet. While visitors toured the cave, he’d have employees tie small signs to their bumpers, giving him free advertising and visitors a free souvenir.

The Highway Beautification Act of 1967 ended the barn sign era. Fewer than 50 of the original signs remain today. The ones that survive are considered landmarks. People make pilgrimages to photograph them.

It started here, with a man and a cave and a box of chocolates for a farmer who just wanted his barn painted.