On a recent drive back towards Ohio from Washington, D.C., I took a left turn onto the Lincoln Highway instead of the customary right that would send me on my way from Breezewood along the Pennsylvania Turnpike to home.
Along that scenic drive, you’ll come across the giant Koontz Coffee Pot in Bedford, PA, sitting right outside the entrance to the county fairgrounds (729 West Pitt St., Bedford, PA 15522).
It certainly has earned the title of giant: The Coffee Pot is truly massive, 18 feet tall and 22 feet in diameter, large enough to hold more than 800,000 cups of coffee, if you’re into measuring things that way.
The Big Coffee Pot is empty today and, interestingly, it was never actually ever used as a coffee shop. It was built in 1927 by David Koontz, a local gas station owner, who built the giant coffee pot to attract travelers along Route 30 (the Lincoln Highway) to make the stop at his gas station. Over the years, the coffee pot had numerous uses other than what you’d think it was intended to be: It was a small restaurant (serving ice cream, hamburgers, and Coca-Cola), a bar attached to a hotel, and a bus stop for Greyhound passengers.
Eventually, the Big Coffee Pot developed a reputation for attracting sketchy clientele to the “hot pillow” motel built behind it, and the roadside landmark would eventually fall into disrepair, looking like its best days were far behind it as it sat dormant next to a drive-thru beer mart.
New Life in the New Century
In 2003, the community of Bedford decided it was time to save the Big Coffee Pot. The Bedford County Fair Association purchased it for $1 and in 2004, the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor spent $80,000 moving the structure to the fairgrounds entrance, restoring it with fresh paint, a new roof, a new handle, and a door. It now sits off to the side of the fairgrounds entrance, with a little spot for parking (but not much), a sign commemorating the Coffee Pot’s history, and a picnic table for gawking at the scale of this thing.
Fans of roadside oddities — such as myself — are lucky to have the Bedford Coffee Pot. Other local examples of “programmatic architecture,” like the Ship Hotel and the Shoe House, have either fallen into disrepair over the years or been completely destroyed.
Thanks to the restoration of the Bedford Coffee Pot, those of us traveling along the Lincoln Highway still get to see a glimpse into a vintage roadside America full of character.
