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 Date: May
1993
• A St.
Louis Business
Journal article in the May 24-30 issue provides us with some
interesting
facts:
* About 600,000 cases of product
(ketchup, beans, olives,
pickles,
and others), or $9 million worth, are handled annually.
* Pilots from
nearby
Scott Air Force Base use the Catsup Bottle as a reference point.
* The
Catsup Bottle could hold 1.5 million tomatoes.
* Enough ketchup for
about
25 million hamburgers.
Date: September
1993
• In
1993, Brooks
Foods,
Inc. was headquartered in Mt. Summit, Indiana. Brooks, in turn, was
owned by Curtice Burns, Inc. in Rochester, New York. In
September
of 1993, Curtice Burns, Inc. put the land, warehouse, and water tower
up
for sale. The Catsup Bottle's future was in jeopardy.
 Date: September 1993
• With
help and support from
the Collinsville Women's Club and the Friends of the Collinsville
Historical
Museum, the 14-member Catsup Bottle Preservation Group was
created.
New Collinsville resident Judy DeMoisy,
an architecture and historic preservation
enthusiast, heads up the group.
•
Publicity
begins in earnest.
Date: October
10, 1993
•
Collinsville
city manager,
Rich Mays, confirms that Brooks Foods has offered to deed the water
tower
to the city... "as is," of course. (After an extensive lobbying
effort and letter writing campaign, the city later declines the offer,
thus starting an incredible trend of indifference.)
•
Brooks was
also willing
to turn it over to an interested community group.
Date: October
11, 1993
•
Members of
the Preservation
Group appear with John Pertzborn on the "Pertzborn's People"
segment
of the KSDK Channel 5 news in St. Louis. It is picked up by the NBC
network
and is broadcast in Atlanta, Memphis, and parts of Florida.
Date: October
20, 1993
• St.
Louis
radio station Y-98
FM morning show host Guy Phillips starts a $1 donation campaign.
The
show's producer, Tyler Richman, is a resident of Collinsville. The
donations
are handled by Magna Bank.
• Fun
stories
begin to surface.
One parent tells of how her kids would fight as to which of them got to
sit on the Catsup Bottle side of the car!
• The
Catsup
Bottle Preservation
Group opens its account at The Bank of Edwardsville - Collinsville
Center,
with a $50 donation from the Collinsville Women's Club. The Bank of
Edwardsville offers free banking service for the long range
fundraising
effort.
 Date: October
20, 1993
• In
an
interview with the Illinois
Post, Collinsville Mayor Fred Dalton says, "We, the city,
have
no practical use for the Catsup Bottle."
Date: October
21, 1993
• A
brief
Associated Press
article appears in the Decatur (IL) Herald & Review.
• A
community
petition drive
is started by the Preservation Group. "This is to get everyone's
attention,"
said Judy DeMoisy. "This is in response to several people in
the
city leadership who said the people don't care about the Catsup Bottle."
 Date: October
24, 1993
• A
brief
Associated Press
article appears in the Chicago Sun-Times.
•
Early
guesstimates put
restoration costs at $20,000, and Brooks Foods pledges to match
funds up to $10,000 under certain conditions. The company,
apparently not understanding
the idea and value of historic preservation, insists that the water
tower
be repainted "in the colors and
designs as our bottle now exists."
•
Brooks also
announces
that they are in negotiations with Bethel-Eckert Enterprises about the
sale of the property. Brooks is no longer interested in passing the
Catsup
Bottle to the city and says that responsibility would belong to the new
owners. Brooks still insists on being in control of the painting.
Date: October
1993
• An
extensive
letter writing
campaign is begun with the hopes of helping the powers that be at
Brooks
Foods see the light. Among the many who wrote to Brooks were the Illinois
Historic Preservation Agancy, the National Trust for Historic
Preservation,
and Society for Commercial Archeology. Many local
preservation
groups also provided input.
 Date: October
1993
• The good
folks over at Red
Gold, Inc. checked in with us. They expressed great interest in
helping
with the restoration and repainting project if the Catsup Bottle became
the property of the City of Collinsville. Although this offer didn't
fit
with the historic preservation objective, it was very tempting and very
much appreciated.
Date: October
31, 1993
• Gene
Hermenet, president
of Brooks Foods, says he is surprised by the public fervor. "We didn't
realize how people felt about it," he said.
Date: November
11, 1993
• A
letter to
the editor
in the Collinsville Herald appears under the headline "Is The
Catsup
Bottle
Worth Saving?" The letter by Collinsville resident Terry Sykes asks
"who
cares?"
Date: November
25, 1993
• An
article
in the Collinsville
Herald reveals that residents Debbie and Rod Schmidt have
an
extra special attachment to the water tower. That is where Rod proposed
and gave Debbie her engagement ring 12 years earlier.
Date: November
1993
• The
Preservation Group
borrows $938 from Collinsville Progress, Inc. (a non-profit
community
organization) in order to place the first shirt order.
Date: November
1993
• Collinsville
City Hall
receives a call from Brooks Foods. It seems the folks at Brooks
were
a bit upset about the fact that the folks at Red Gold had been in touch
with us. Their call was meant as a strong reminder to everyone
that
they (Brooks Foods) were still the owner of the water tower.
And
as the owner, they can still do with it what they want.
Even
with the fundraising and preservation movement under way, they
can
and will tear it down if they so desire! Hmmmm, sounds like
someone
was seeing red.
 Date: December
5, 1993
• John
Celuch
of Inland
Design, and intern Matt Bell, provide pro-bono work for the shirt
designs.
Pat Horstman and Mike Stevens of Custom Imprints provide the
labor
to produce t-shirts and sweatshirts.
•
Fundraising
t-shirt and
sweatshirt sales begin with two designs available. One being a gray
shirt
with a 3-color abstract Catsup Bottle image saying "Catsup Well
Preserved."
The other being a blue shirt with a white image of the architectural
blueprints
for the water tower and a red starburst saying "Roadside Architecture
At
Its Best."
Date: December
23, 1993
• Ralf
Schneider of Cards
Plus, the local Hallmark store, sells out of his 100 shirt supply
and
asks for more. "We hit the jackpot on this for a fundraiser," he
said.
•
Residents
Renee and Rich
Taake include a big Catsup Bottle decoration in their holiday lighting
display with a sign saying "A gift for all of Collinsville."
• Word
begins
to spread.
The news media calls constantly. Letters come in from around the
country.
At this point we've created a monster, and it's taken on a life of it's
own. The leadership of Judy DeMoisy, and the diligence of the
Preservation
Group members, keeps the project from spinning out of control.
 Date: December
1993
•
Preservation
Group member Wade McCormick pens a
little ditty called "The Catsup Bottle Song."
• An
article
by editor Jim
Potts appears in the December edition of his award-winning, Mound
City
Empties, the newsletter for the St. Louis Antique Bottle Collectors
Association.
Date: December
26, 1993
• The
response
to the shirts
is overwhelming! "We can't keep them in stock!" DeMoisy says.
Date: December
24, 1993
• On
December
24, Christmas
Eve, a call was received at the DeMoisy home. Merry Christmas. It
was
the corporate attorney for Curtice Burns, Inc. in New York.
The purpose
of his call of course, was not to ruin the holiday, but to reign in all
of the activity. Curtice Burns and Brooks Foods were selling the
property
and wanted nothing to do with the Catsup Bottle anymore.
They
were
washing their hands of it, and it seemed they wanted no one else to
have
anything to do with the Catsup Bottle anymore either. It appeared maybe
that corporate big wigs viewed the situation as a bothersome
embarrassment
and enough was enough.
Well, no retreat no
surrender, baby, we were
just getting started...!!!
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