About The Milk Can
Rhode Island once sold ice cream from inside a thirty-two-foot milk can.
The novelty building dates to around 1930 or 1931 and originally stood along Route 146 in Lincoln. Its exaggerated shape made the business visible to motorists during an era when roadside architecture often did the job of a billboard. The entire structure advertised dairy products before anyone read a sign.
Highway changes eventually forced the building to move. In 1988, the giant can was transported to a new location farther north, an awkward relocation that required the structure to be placed horizontally in a specially built support cradle.
The business never successfully returned to its old role, and the Milk Can has spent decades vacant. The historic photograph shows the building before its subsequent deterioration, not its current condition. It remains on private property and should be viewed only from lawful public areas. Do not enter the building or cross posted boundaries.