Big Chicken

The Big Chicken is a giant metal chicken in Marietta in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is considered a landmark of the city.

On the site of today's Big Chickens stood in 1956 a fast food restaurant, Johnny Reb 's. To counter the increasing competition, the owner of Tubby Davis wanted to be converted to " Fried Chicken " (fried chicken leg ) restaurant specializing so that you became aware of it, even 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 a giant chicken for this. The commissioned architect Hubert Puckett designed a 17 -meter-high steel structure. A sensor mounted inside the drive motor moving eyes and beak. The comb was placed so that he turned to the prevailing wind direction.

After initial skepticism, the population of Marietta and Atlanta was built in 1963, the Big Chicken popular. The advertising paid off for Tubby Davis. After some time, however, the drive motor has developed into a financial problem: Due to the ongoing rotation broke numerous windows of the restaurant.

In 1974, the restaurant was closed and a Kentucky Fried Chicken branch drew a. The ravages of time gnawing at the steel structure, pigeons and other birds nesting gave him the rest, the drive motor also stopped working a long time. 1993 wanted to K. F. C. tear after storm damage, the Big Chicken, since the renovation and maintenance were unprofitable. After a flood of petitions ( According to the website, the letters from around the world came from) was the Big Chicken restored. Today it is fully functional again.