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WLRA gets new Home on the WEB - August 10, 2002 Hat-n-Boots Receive Historic Designation - July 3, 2002 Six-Pack Painted Over - September 6, 2000 Catsup Bottle Celebrates 50th Anniversary - April 4 1999 Disney Donates Huge Fire Hydrant to Museum - April 4, 1999 Cape Breton Loses Giant Crustacean Catcher - November 2, 1998 New Home for IndianStatue - July 21, 1998 Longaberger Basket-Building Completed - December 1997 The Big PumpLives - 1997 Have some News to share? Please send it along in an email to:
WLRA
gets new Home on the WEB After 5 years in existence, WLRA gets a new domain name - www.wlra.us! The new shortened name was possible because of the addition of the top level domain - US - . In addition, WLRA will be going through a make-over and conversion in the next few months. Look for all the upcoming changes. Hat-n-Boots
are One step closer to being saved! The Georgetown Community Council has been busy saving the Hat-n-Boots Gas Station. On July 3rd, the Seattle Landmarks Board accepted their nomination and voted for designation as an historic landmark. The Landmarks Board will involved in the restoration of the buildings to their original colors. See full story and details at Hat-n-Boots - the Hat-n-Boots website. We have received word that the World's Largest Six-Pack, a series of tanks painted to resemble cans of Old Style beer in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, has been painted over. Now they're just big white tanks. When will the senseless destruction end?
The World's Largest Catsup Bottle Preservation Group and International Fan Club threw a 50th birthday party for the giant condiment container on June 13, 1999 in downtown Collinsville, Illinois. The group was formed after the bottling plant was sold in 1993 and the bottle, which had been built as a water tower but not used since 1970, was in danger of falling to the wrecking ball. More than $75,000 was raised for the catsup bottle's restoration, which was completed in June of 1995. For more information, go to the World's Largest Catsup Bottle Preservation Group and International Fan Club website. Disney Donates
Huge Fire Hydrant to Museum Walt Disney's Home Video Division has donated the World's Largest Fire Hydrant to the Fire Museum of Texas in Beaumont, Texas. The 24-foot, 4,500-pound working fire plug, which is painted in dalmation spots, was originally built to help promote Disney's re-release of 101 Dalmations. Source: Roadside America website. Turkey
Burns Big Tom the Turkey, mascot of Frazee, Minnesota, burned last summer but has been replaced by a new turkey statue. Apparantly the blaze was ignited as the 22-foot fiberglass bird was being cleaned in preparation for the Frazee's annual Turkey Days. The statue, which was a total loss, was replaced as mascot for the celebration by a large papier-mache egg. On September 19, 1998, a new fiberglass turkey statue was installed at the same location. Source: Roadside America website.
Jim Draeger, Architectural Historian for the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, reports that the Giant Badger of Birnamwood, Wisconsin, has been demolished. The owner of the gas station where the badger lived tried unsuccessfully to sell the property, then opted to demolish rather than pay the property taxes. Photograph provided by Robin Oxley.
It is with great sadness that we report the loss of the world's biggest lobster trap in Cheticamp, Nova Scotia. The wooden half-round structure, which was built over a gift shop, was apparently dismantled by its owner earlier this year . On a personal note, it was the sight of the humongous trap on a bike trip around Cape Breton in 1996 (and a tour of the world's largest six-pack later that same summer) that set this webmaster to pondering the existence of other giant roadside objects, and eventually inspired the World's Largest web site.
Avon, New York's landmark Indian statue was auctioned off on July 18, 1998 to a new owner and will be moving to the Cattaragus Indian Reservation, located south of Buffalo, New York. The new owner, Cyrus Schindler, is a native Seneca Indian and owner of the Big Indian Smoke Shop. The bidding for the Native American Indian statue stopped at Mr. Schindler's bid of $18,250. The 27-foot-tall, 800 pound statue, which has been located at its current site in Avon for the last 30 years, was originally purchased from the former Iroquois Brewery near Buffalo, New York, at a cost of $250. Photo by Alicia Joy. Story reported by Barry Joy, Rochester, New York. Longaberger Basket-Building Completed December 1997 The Longaberger Basket Company recently completed its new company headquarters, a seven-story office building in the shape of huge basket, complete with three-story "handles." The building, which is located in Newark, Ohio, is the brainchild of company CEO Dave Longaberger, "If we can send a man to the moon, we can build an office building to resemble a Longaberger basket... This is one of my dreams come true." According to Friedreich Bohm, one of the designers of the structure, "It's a monument... a piece of pop art... a gigantic billboard." Source: Society for Commercial Archeology News The Big Pump LivesThe Big Pump, a gas station built in the 1920s or 30s in the shape of a gas pump, has been moved from Maryville to King City, Missouri to save it from being razed to make way for a convenience store. Jerry Jones, who sold auto parts to the station when it was still in operation, bought the pump and donated it to the Tri-County Historical Society in King City. The pump has been restored and now stands in a local park. Have some News to share? Please send it along in an email to: |
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©2002
World's Largest Roadside Attractions - willince.com
- wlra@wlra.us
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