How big is your ketchup bottle?

On the way back from the Hot Rod Nationals, we took a detour through Collinsville to eat at Lotawata Creek Southern Grill. The weather was perticularly bad on the way home with heavy rain, lighning, & thunder, & so we were keeping an eye on the skies. However, what we weren't prepared for was a huge ketchup bottle appearing up in the sky as we passed through Collinsville on Rte 159.


The ketchup bottle is actually a 170 ft tall, 100,000 gallon water tower that was built in 1949 by the W.E. Caldwell Company for the G.S. Suppiger catsup bottling plant, who were the bottlers of 'Brooks® Old Original Rich & Tangy Catsup' (ketchup). The bottle fell into disrepair after the factory closed, but in 1995 the Catsup Bottle Preservation Group raised sufficent funds to restore this landmark roadside attraction its original appearance. In August of 2002 the bottle was included in the US National Register of Historic Places.

We went to the 10th Brooks® World's Largest Catsup Bottle® Festival - Birthday Party & Car Show, which is an annual event held at the American Legion Post 365 in Collinsville. There were plenty of ketchup related activities & events including a ketchup tasting (Beth successfully chose the Brooks brand & so won a badge & ribbon), a ketchup bottle ice sculpture, a ketchup bottle photoboard (with an opening for you to put your head in so you could become the ketchup bottle), party games, & food (all served with tomato ketchup). There were also quite a few cars & bikes on show, plus Beth got to meet two of the St Louis Rams' chearleaders. After we left the fetival, we headed to the bottle to get a close up look at it. It is at the bottom of a hill so as you travel south from Collinsville it appears to float in the air due the the trees on either side of the road & it is only when you get to the bottom of the hill that you see that the bottle is actually on a tower.