Giant Containers

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MILK BOTTLES

Milk Bottle
Libertyville, IL		 Milk Bottle
Bloomfield, CT		 Benewah Milk Bottle #1
(Garland St.)
Spokane, WA		 Benewah Milk Bottle #2
(S. Cedar St.)
Spokane, WA

The Libertyville bottle is not as big as the bottle buildings but still worth honorable mention. It is maybe 10' tall and part of Lambs Farm.

The Bloomfield Milk Bottle is another little (but big) example. It is a little over 5' tall and appears to be made of cement. The bottle stands in front of Maple Hill Farms which has been around since 1928.

The Benewah Milk Bottles were designed in 1935 by Whitehouse and Price. They stand 38' tall and are 15' wide. The body of the bottles are wood and wire mesh covered with stucco. The neck and cap are sheet metal over a wooden frame. The owner, Paul E. Newport, had six or seven of these milk bottles built as retail outlets for his Benewah Dairy Company. The bottles were designed to make milk appealing to children.

The company folded in 1972 and only these two bottles remain. Another on Perry St. was converted into a windmill but seems to be gone. Bottle #1, the first built, was used as a junk before about 1994 when it was taken over by Mary Lou's Milk Bottle Restaurant, an ice cream shop. Bottle #2 now seems to be vacant.

Harbisons Dairies
Philadelphia, PA

The Harbisons Dairies' water tower was built around 1914. There were four other locations with these milk bottles - all gone but this one. The building below is now vacant and Harbisons Dairies no longer exists. For more, see this website. [advertisement scan thanks Gene Hanlon]

Steigerwald
Dairy Building
Portland, OR		 former Bordens plant
Niagara Falls, ON		 Guaranteed
Milk Bottle
Montréal, QC		 Milk Bottle
Memphis, TN

The Steigerwald Dairy Building was built in 1926 in the shape of a milk bottle. In 1936, when a paint store moved in, the building was covered up with plaster and transformed into two paint cans. In the 1940s, an animated neon 7-Up sign was installed on top. In 2003, that sign was replaced with a Budweiser sign. In 2008, the building was vacant. For more, see these websites: 1, 2, 3, and 4.

The Niagara Falls Bordens plant, with its milk bottle entrance, was built in 1930. Bordens closed in 1974. In the late 1980s, the building was converted into a nightclub/restaurant. It was known as the "Roman Court", "Castle Rock" and "The Basement" over the years. In 2006, the building was renovated and become the Sterling Inn & Spa. For more, see this website.

The Montréal Milk Bottle was originally used as a water tower for the Guaranteed Dairy Building which was built here in 1930. The giant steel bottle is about 32' tall and 12' wide. The lettering used to spell out "Guaranteed Pure Milk". The bottle has obviously been neglected for many years. For more, see these websites: 1, 2, and 3.

The Memphis Milk Bottle appears to be a former water tower for presumably a former dairy building below. The building is now as derelict as the bottle. Does anyone know more about this place?

Bottlegate Farm
Kent, NY

Bottlegate Farm has two 8' tall and two 4' tall bottles at its entrance. I assume this place was once a dairy farm.

Richmond Dairy Building
Richmond, VA		 Milk Bottle
Whately, MA		 Milk Bottle
Corpus Christi, TX

The Richmond Dairy was built in 1913. In 1999, the building was converted into rental apartments at a cost of nearly $8 million. There are three 16' milk bottles at the corners of the building. This building is similar to the Polk's Dairy which was once in Indianapolis, IN. I'm not sure which came first or if one was modeled after the other. For more, see these websites: 1 and 2.

The Quonquont Dairy Milk Bottle in Whately was built around 1926 and was used for selling sandwiches, pie and ice cream. The dairy operated from 1923-1943. In 1951, it was moved across the street. It fell into disrepair and the Whately Historical Society stepped in and it was restored and moved again in 1995. It is a 16' tall, cement-sided building.

The Corpus Christi Milk Bottle stands in fromt of an RV park and is used for storage. The structure may have been used by a dairy and has been here since at least the 1950s. Another source says it was built in the 1930s or 1940s, used for selling snacks/drinks/ice cream, and that there was never a dairy there. This area of town has always been home to trailer parks and cheap motels.

Braum's Milk Bottle
Oklahoma City, OK		 Milk Bottle
Michigan City, IN		 Milk Bottle
Irvington, NJ

The Braum's Milk Bottle is taller than the building on which it stands. It has advertised for Braum's, a local dairy company, since 1993. The small triangular building below houses Saigon Baguette, a French-Vietnamese bakery. The bottle originally advertised for the Townley Dairy. It is listed on the National Register of Historical Places. In the past, the building was occupied by the Rib Shak and the Beer Box but I assume it originally sold Townley dairy products. For more, see these websites 1, 2, and 3.

The Michigan City Milk Bottle is now on the roof of La Rocco's Floor Coverings. The building was once occupied by a milk delivery company.

The Irvington Milk Bottle is installed on the roof of Dairyland, an ice cream parlor. The bottle is 9' tall and made of metal. The clock no longers works. The Dairyland Ice Cream Company was founded here in 1900 at this building which served as a dairy production plant. In 1972, the company began focusing on ice cream. There were a few other locations in the area but this is the only one left. For more, see these websites 1 and 2.

Skip's Milk Bottle
Chelmsford, MA		 City Dairy Co.
Toronto, ON		 HP Hood Milk Bottle
Boston, MA

Skip's Restaurant had an ice cream stand next door which closed around 2000. This bottle (about 8' tall) was on the roof. When the stand was replaced with a car wash, the bottle was moved to the back corner of the lot. For more, see this page.

The City Dairy Co. bottle is a tribute to Toronto's first dairy which was founded in 1900. The City Dairy factory building is located nearby and is now used by the University of Toronto. This sculpture was created by Stephen Cruise in 1997 and is mounted on a 20' pole.

The Hood Milk Bottle is 40' tall and 18' in diameter. If it were real, would hold 50,000 gallons of milk. It was built entirely of wood in 1934 as an ice cream stand which was run by Arthur Gagner in Taunton, MA. Soon thereafter, it was taken over by Sankeys who operated the stand until 1967. It stood vacant for eight years until Hood Milk was persuaded to buy it. In 1977, it was cut into three sections and moved by barge to Boston's Museuem Wharf. During the move, it briefly stopped to "visit" the Giant Bottle in Raynham, MA. Today, the Hood Bottle still serves as an ice cream stand and snack bar next to the Children's Museum. The bottle was completely renovated in 2007. Hood is the biggest dairy in New England and was founded in 1846. For more, see these websites: 1 and 2.

There was a more modern giant Hood Milk Bottle at Boston's Fenway Park baseball stadium. The 26' tall bottle (modeled after a modern milk jug rather than the old-fashioned glass bottle) was known as the "black Monster". It stood in right field and with each Red Sox home run, double play or strike-out of an opponent, the red cap on the bottle would lift off and milk splashed out. It sounds like today's 2-D bottle only flashes lights for home runs (no splashing). There are also a couple giant Coke bottles in the outfield. For more, see this website.

The Milk Bottle Restaurant
Raynham, MA		 Frates Restaurant Milk Bottle
New Bedford, MA

Both Milk Bottle buildings (New Bedford and Raynham) were erected by Frates Dairy. They were designed by Les Labrose and were painted white with a cream color close to the brim.

The Raynham Bottle serves ice cream take-out through the front windows and has a restaurant attached behind it. The bottle is 50' tall and 20' in diameter. According to the latest report, it is being repainted.

The New Bedford Bottle is 52' tall and was built in 1930. It still serves 43 flavors of ice cream. There were new owners in 2003 who renamed it "Tali's Place" but, as of 2005, I understand the building is closed and up for sale again. For more, see these websites: 1 and 2.

Voss Bar-B-Q
Yorkville, NY

Voss Bar-B-Q has a 12' tall milk bottle on its roof. Voss opened its dairy/ice cream stand here in 1937. Originally, the bottle was made of tin and outlined in neon. The neon hot dog sign that is there today is 16' wide. Hot dogs were added to the menu in 1950.

More Milk Bottles:
Halifax Creamery (Daytona Beach, FL) [gone]
Uhland, TX [gone?]
Edmonton, Canada

The Asselin Dairy in Norway, MI had a 65' milk bottle. It was built in 1929 of metal-sheated wood and plaster. The dairy moved out in the late 1970s and the abandoned building was destroyed.

For more about these Milk Bottles and milk bottle collecting, see this website.

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