The World’s Largest Catsup Bottle in Collinsville, Ill., will be given a 2012 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation 
Award for advocacy from Landmarks Illinois later this month.
The nine awards will be presented at 6 p.m. Oct. 27 at the InterContinental Chicago hotel at 505 N. Michigan Ave. in Chicago.
A list of the 2012 award winners is here. Incidentally, this year’s Driehaus winner for restoration is the Monroe Building in Chicago, located very close to the eastern terminus of Route 66.
Landmarks Illinois explained the annual awards:
Landmarks Illinois has been assisted by a generous grant from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation to honor individuals and organizations whose works demonstrate a commitment to historic preservation. By honoring these individuals, organizations, projects and programs, Landmarks Illinois and the Driehaus Foundation hope to inspire others to take action to preserve, protect and promote historic resources.
The World’s Largest Catsup Bottle is located near the site of a former Brooks Catsup factory. The 100,000-gallon water tower, painted to resemble a Brooks ketchup bottle, was built in 1949.
Brooks moved away its operations years later, but the big bottle remained. A local preservation group restored it in 1995, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
The World’s Largest Catsup Bottle is about two miles south of the nearest alignment of Route 66 at Beltline Road in Collinsville. However, it remains a favorite side trip for many Route 66 travelers.