Why is a giant milk bottle perched on top of a tiny, triangular building at NW 24th Street and Classen Boulevard? To get attention, just as it has been doing since 1948.
The red brick building, interesting enough on its own, wasn’t always adorned with an eye-catching, supersized topper, though. Through the next several decades after its construction in 1930, the 380-square-foot commercial building housed various businesses, including a realty company, grocery, florist, Vietnamese sandwich shop, fruit stand, laundry, investment company, barbecue shop, boutique and currently Milk Nail Salon.
Because of the tiny space, some previous businesses had to limit their wares, but the appeal of the unconventional and intriguing building made up for what it lacked in size. Early on, one advantage was the building’s location along a streetcar stop on what was a segment of the original Route 66. The line ran diagonally across Classen Boulevard.
The addition of a milk bottle on top of an already interesting building added to its appeal, especially when the existing store was renamed Milk Bottle Grocery in 1949. The bottle and each of the businesses have always been leased separately.
The towering, impossible-to-miss bottle, measuring 8 feet in diameter and close to 11 feet tall, has touted several milk brands in the last eight decades, including Sterling, Meadow Gold, Steffen’s and Townley’s. Braum’s, the name on the bottle since 1997, is well known in the state and the Oklahoma City metro area, where there’s a Braum’s ice cream and dairy store every few miles.
Sitting on a tiny speck of real estate, the iconic building is surrounded by larger businesses, traffic and century-old houses. It’s a distinctive and historic landmark.
The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. And for those who’ve never seen milk in a bottle, this bigger-than-life rendition mimics the real thing, complete with a tapered neck up to the rimmed mouth and a notched metal version of a paper bottle cap.
The bottle, which is exposed to the elements, got a facelift in 2021. Heat is especially hard on the metal bottle, so a special paint was used to allow for heat expansion.
The milk bottle building is a popular photo opportunity too, and will no doubt attract more visitors during this year’s Route 66 Centennial.
John Kilpatrick Jr., an Oklahoma City businessman and civic leader who died in 2005, purchased and preserved the building in the 1970s. His daughter Elise Kilpatrick inherited it, and a decade ago oversaw restoration work, bringing back original features and maintaining the building’s historic charm.
Oklahoma City has progressed considerably since 1948 when the large milk bottle found a home on top of a tiny triangle-shaped building on a minuscule piece of real estate. But isn’t it wonderful when something so special and interesting — like a sliver of a building and a large milk bottle — continues to entice passersby, beckoning them to slow down or stop and take a closer look?
