Built in October 1949, the Bottle was a water tower for the Brooks Tangy Catsup factory. Despite popular belief, it never held catsup (or ketchup). If it had, it would have filled 640,000 normal-size catsup bottles, enough for about 25 million hamburgers.
By the early '90s, however, the catsup factory had left town and the paint on the Bottle -- a design from the 1970s -- was faded and peeling. Town officials failed to grasp the tourism appeal of a World's Largest Catsup Bottle, even after our visit. But a relative newcomer to Collinsville, Judy De Moisy, did. She organized the Catsup Bottle Preservation Group, and with t-shirt sales and persistence it raised enough money to prevent the Bottle's possible demolition, and to repair and repaint the Bottle to its original 1949 appearance.
Ralph Finch of the St. Louis Antique Bottle Collectors Association donated an old Brooks Tangy Catsup bottle, still with its label, to serve as the restoration template. High-quality paint was also donated, free of charge. So was lighting to illuminate the bottle at night.
The repainting took place in the Spring of 1995. The Bottle's tapered, nonstandard shape forced the workers, who specialized in water towers, to paint this one by hand while suspended from cables. A hole had rusted through the Catsup Bottle's eight-foot-wide cap, which meant, according to painter Larry Pettus, that an estimated 2.5 tons of pigeon poop had to be shoveled out of it. The temperature inside the 77-foot-tall metal Bottle reached nearly 140 degrees.
With its restoration, the World's Largest Catsup Bottle was swamped with a tomato-colored tidal wave of belated media interest. It became the symbol of the town, and an honorary must-see stop for travelers on the similarly revived Route 66 (even though the Bottle is eight miles off of the Mother Road). In August 2002 the World's Largest Catsup Bottle was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
A brief scare ran through Collinsville in 2014 when the property owner of the Bottle put it up for sale (It was eventually purchased by a local construction company). Town officials, their apathy forgotten, have embraced the Bottle's preservation. Judy De Moisy, now known as "Catsup Bottle Lady," noted with pride that what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, the World's Largest Catsup Bottle is to Collinsville.
Catsup Bottle statistics:
Overall height: 170'
Bottle height: 70'
Bottle base: 25'
Cap: 8' diameter
Holds: 100,000 gallons
***HOW TO CLAIM A FIND FOR THIS VIRTUAL CACHE***
Simply take a selfie with the Catsup bottle and include it with your log.
No need to email/message me anything!
If you don't want to include yourself in the selfie, then take a picture of the Catsup bottle WITH a piece of paper with your geocaching name visibly written on it.
***BONUS POINTS!***
There are at least two murals along Main St./Center St. that show the Catsup Bottle in it. Include any selfies with the murals ALONG WITH the actual Catsup Bottle selfie required to log the find.
Virtual Rewards 5.0 - 2026-2027
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between February 3, 2026 and February 3, 2027. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 5.0 on the Geocaching Blog.