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All the United States Illinois Collinsville World's Largest Catsup Bottle

World's Largest Catsup Bottle

Quirky water tower advertises the long-gone Brooks Tomato Products Co.

Collinsville, Illinois

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Braden Herbert
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Collinsville’s catsup bottle   MarkAhlvers2 / CC BY-ND 2.0
  soupstance / CC BY 2.0
Fresh new paint job!   MichaelGass / Atlas Obscura User
Catsup anyone!   pitch4d / Atlas Obscura User
Rainy Catsup   pitch4d / Atlas Obscura User
Worlds Largest Catsup Bottle Emblem-Britt Todd   Britt Todd / Atlas Obscura User
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Situated just south of downtown Collinsville, Illinois, the world's largest Catsup bottle stands tall and proud. Completed in October 1949 as the water tower for a now-shuttered Brooks Foods plant at a cost exceeding $23,000, the 170-foot-tall water tower still advertises Brooks' original rich and tangy catsup.

If filled with catsup, the 70-foot monument, which sits on top of a 100-foot stand, would hold up to 640,000 standard-size bottles. Instead, it holds 100,000 gallons of water. "Since we were going to have to build the tank, we thought we might as well have it look like something," said Gerhart Suppinger Jr. of the Brooks Tomato Products Co. when the company decided to erect the bottle.

Through local preservation efforts, the tower was saved and restored to its original glory in 1995 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. To raise more than $70,000 in restoration funds for sandblasting and painting the bottle and installing lighting, volunteers sold 6,000 shirts and solicited donations from across the country.Each July, the town celebrates the Catsup Bottle Festival, which is a charming example of small-town fun and excitement. Highlights include the eating and hula hoop contests, a well-attended car show, the Little Princess Tomato and Sir Catsup Contest, and live entertainment. 

The giant bottle, a winner of Midwest Living's Hometown Pride Awards Program in 1995, is a wonderful representation of quirky mid-20th century roadside Americana and is an easy 20-minute drive from more well-known tourist destinations (such as the Gateway Arch) in downtown St. Louis, Missouri.

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Water Towers Roadside Attractions Sauce Sculptures Bottle Art World's Largest Monuments

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Head south of downtown Collinsville on Illinois Hwy. 159. Take Collinsville Exit 159 off of I-55/70. The bottle is located 20 minutes from the Gateway Arch and downtown St. Louis, MO.

Community Contributors

Added By

bradenh83

Edited By

Britt Todd, MichaelGass, Michelle Cassidy, pitch4d

  • Britt Todd
  • MichaelGass
  • Michelle Cassidy
  • pitch4d

Published

July 26, 2010

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Sources
  • Cruisin' 66: The World's Largest Bottle of Catsup: http://www.cruisin66.com/stl/catsup.html
  • Roadside America: World's Largest Catsup Bottle: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2922
  • World's Largest Things: World's Largest Bottle of Catsup: http://www.worldslargestthings.com/easterntour/catsup.htm
World's Largest Catsup Bottle
800 S. Morrison Ave.
Collinsville, Illinois, 62234
United States
38.662913, -89.982267
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Nearby Places

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Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Collinsville

Collinsville

Illinois

Places 2

Nearby Places

Cahokia Mounds

Collinsville, Illinois

miles away

Illinois Woodhenge

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miles away

Luna Café

Granite City, Illinois

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Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Collinsville

Collinsville

Illinois

Places 2

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