Milk Bottle Grocery

There may not be a more welcoming sight than a cool bottle of milk on a hot summer day, and Oklahoma City aims to please. Since 1948, Oklahoma City has displayed its beacon of dairy goodness to thirsty travelers making their way across the Mother Road. 

The wedge-shaped red brick building was already an unusual sight on Classen Boulevard when it was built in 1930, as it was one of Oklahoma City’s few triangular lots. At the time, Classon Boulevard was part of Route 66 itself, and the grocery building would be a stop on the streetcar line that ran along the street. In 1948, the milk bottle was added, as a prime example of roadside mimetic architecture, where it has stood ever since. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

Curiously, the building and the milk bottle have always been separate establishments. The building itself, with its unusual size and foot traffic, has hosted several businesses, including a banh mi shop, a barbecue shack, a design studio, and a private nail salon. Likewise, the milk bottle has had a number of different dairy companies adorn it as an advertisement. Currently, the milk bottle bears the logo of Braum’s, the beloved Okie dairy farm, grocery, and fast food chain that has stores across the state.