Giant Coffee Pots

	Giant Containers

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COFFEE POTS (page 2)

Koontz Coffee Pot
Bedford, PA
1932 1930s?

1930s? 1940s?

1943 2002 photos

2003: getting ready for the move

2004: moved, being restored

July 2004: nearly fully restored

2007:

The Koontz Coffee Pot was built by Bert Koontz in 1927. A Greyhound station, built next door ten years later, became a drive through beer business. There was an Atlantic White Flash gas station on the other side. The Coffee Pot was once sheathed in metal and did a good business with the Bedford Fairgrounds across the road and the gas station next door.
In the 1940s, after the construction of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, there were enough customers from the bus station to keep things going for awhile. But with declining traffic on the Lincoln Highway, the Coffee Pot went from lunch stand, to Greyhound station, to seedy bar in the 1970s, to a diner which closed in the mid-1980s. It sat abandoned and deteriorating next to a beer distributor for many years. The windows were broken out, torn-up carpeting and broken furniture were visible inside and a big "Lot for Sale" sign begged for someone to buy it.
In 2003, the Pot seemed doomed with the expansion of the U-Haul business on the property. Miraculously, Bert's great nephew (Dick Koontz), with assistance from Lincoln Highway supporters, arranged for the Pot to be relocated across the street at the Fairgrounds. In December 2003, it was moved and restored for about $75,000. The exterior was painted silver (the original color). The interior contains memorabilia from the fair. Coffee Pot souvenirs are available in the building next door. For more, see this website.