It’s probably the most unique abandoned place in Rhode Island, and it sits on one of the most well traveled highways in the state. This thing is an abandoned icon that almost everyone has seen, and this isn’t even where it originally stood. That’s right, this whole thing was actually relocated here. Welcome to the abandoned Milk Can Creamery.
Filmed/Edited by Jason Allard
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The thirty-two-foot tall bottle was built in 1931 at a time when every roadside business was looking for a creative way to entice passing motorists to stop and spend money; a time when modern zoning and signage laws hadn't yet reined in the imaginations of ambitious entrepreneurs. Wacky architecture, formally known as "roadside vernacular architecture," was one such marketing gambit.
It can be said that The Milk Can is a survivor of that trend, but only kind of. It still exists, but it's not being preserved, it's a long way from being operational, and as of right now it’s abandoned.
It was constructed in 1931 for Charles Plante and started its life as part of an ice cream stand literally called The Milk Can. It was purchased from Charles by Joseph Mariani in 1947. At that time it was still just an ice cream stand with take-out windows and picnic table seating. Mariani expanded the business to offer short order food like burgers and fried clams.
The seasonal business operated from late March to November. Mariani's son, also named Joe, in a 2008 Valley Breeze article, recalled working there from 1955-'65. They'd be so busy in the summer, he said “There was no set closing time. We'd stay open until business waned. Sometimes we'd be scooping ice cream at 2am, especially on hot nights when people couldn't sleep. I used to get callouses on my hands from all that scooping."
It was clear that business was booming, and people loved the Milk Can. But the good times came to an end in 1968 with the death of Joe, Sr.'s wife. The stand was closed and never re-opened.
On January 8th 1989 Eastman Brothers Movers of East Greenwich moved the can a mile up the road horizontally on a special built cradle.
In 1990, after the relocation and a $50,000 restoration of the Milk Can, the new owners hit a massive roadblock, this one big enough to shut down the entire operation. It was reported in a Providence Journal Article in April 1990 that "The state has informed Surtel and D'Andrea that ground water beneath the still-unopened can is highly contaminated by unleaded gasoline compounds, including benzene, a known carcinogen.
According to another article in the Providence Journal, the well supplying the water was drilled 10 months after the Milk Can was moved - so this was a surprise to everyone. Preservationists were horrified to learn that the Milk Can was standing on contaminated land.
Co-owner Stanley Surtel was so upset by the news that he had trouble sleeping for a week. "I was waking up every day at 3 o'clock in the morning with pains in my arms and legs from being nervous," he said.
It was too much to handle, and unable to secure a clean source of water the Milk Can remained closed through 1990, and every year since. It has now been vacant longer than it was in operation.
What’s next for the Milk Can?
In 2012, the previously contaminated groundwater was retested following a 20-year remediation and found to comply with federal and state water quality standards.
In 2018 Steven D’Andrea, grandson of the last owner was in talks with municipal and state authorities about developing the Milk Can and the surrounding property into a commercial space. “I’m really just trying to continue what my grandfather had started and wasn’t able to finish and get it back online,” D’Andrea told The Valley Breeze.
Development talks have been quiet lately, but seeing as it’s still owned by the same family and there’s a revision to reopen, I’m hopeful for its future. Even in it’s current shape, it’s still a Rhode Island Icon, so next time you drive by on RT 146 and see the Can, pour out some milk in honor of a bygone era, and hope something positive happens here.
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