Big Chicken
The Big Chicken is a huge metal chicken in Marietta in the US - State of Georgia . It is considered a symbol of the city.
In 1956 there was a fast food restaurant , the Johnny Reb’s, on the site of today's Big Chickens . In order to face the increasing competition , the owner Tubby Davis wanted to rebuild his restaurant specializing in "Fried Chicken" (deep-fried chicken legs) in such a way that one would notice it from a distance. Due to the good location of the restaurant (corner of Cobb Parkway / Roswell Road , not far from Interstate Highway 75), it was decided to build an oversized chicken for this. The commissioned architect Hubert Puckett designed a 17 m high steel structure. A drive motor mounted inside moved the eyes and beak. The comb was attached so that it rotated with the direction of the wind.
After initial skepticism from the people of Marietta and Atlanta , the Big Chicken, built in 1963, became popular. The advertisement paid off for Tubby Davis. After a while, however, the drive motor developed into a financial problem: the constant rotation broke numerous windows in the restaurant.
In 1974 the restaurant closed and a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) branch moved in. The weather and nesting birds have severely damaged the structure since then. The drive motor has not worked for a long time. In 1993, KFC wanted to tear down the Big Chicken after storm damage because the renovation and maintenance were unprofitable. After a flood of petitions (the website said the letters came from all over the world), the Big Chicken was restored. Today it is fully functional again.
Web links
- The big chicken. In: Marietta's Online Magazine and City Guide. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
- The big chicken. County: Cobb. City: Marietta. ( Memento of January 2, 2008 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved January 1, 2013.
Coordinates: 33 ° 57 ′ 5.6 " N , 84 ° 31 ′ 13.2" W.