mtburb,
I'm beginning to rethink my previous comments on how 3M arrived in Detroit. The more I think about it, I believe 3M National arrived in Detroit some years after the Townsend Sign Co. left the billboard business. It looks like Eller Outdoor [[1969-1979) acquired many [[if not all) of the former Townsend bulletin billboards around town [[including those Goodyear auto production signs) shortly after they arrived in Detroit. I'm thinking 3M arrived here during the 1970s and focused erecting their own panels along the area's freeways, especially along I-96 after it opened during the 1970s. Since Eller was the major billboard company in town during that time, 3M gradually crept in basically unnoticed. Maybe someone else here can enlighten us on when 3M actually arrived in town.

Also, regarding Ted Turner, he inherited Turner Outdoor Adv. from his father after he committed suicide in 1963. Turner Outdoor operated primarily in the Southeast states.