Effort to restore Lindstrom's iconic coffee pot percolating

LINDSTROM, Minn. (FOX 9) - Something special is brewing in Lindstrom, where a local landmark is getting an update.

‘It’s an iconic part of our community’

Local perspective:

From the statues of fictional immigrants Karl-Oskar and Kristina Nillson to the barn quilts on the buildings and the coffee pots in the local antique store, it's easy to see Lindstrom's Swedish roots run deep.

Now an effort to revive the city's biggest nod to its Scandinavian heritage is going full steam ahead.

The coffee pot water tower has been a local landmark in Lindstrom for more than 30 years. Standing 105 feet in the air along Highway 8 in Chisago County, the coffee pot with the words "Welcome to Lindstrom" in Swedish has become a symbol of the community, as well as to passersby on their way to cabin country in Wisconsin.

"It's a showstopper for people. If you google iconic water towers in the United States, I think we hit the Top 10," said mayor Judy Chartrand.

‘It’s a sense of great tradition and pride’

The backstory:

The water tower was originally built in 1908 and served the community for decades, until the city decided to build a new one in 1992.

The plan was to demolish the old water tower until the owner of a local plastics company, Marlene Smith, suggested turning it into the world's largest Swedish coffee pot, even though some people believe it's a tea kettle.

"It's a coffee pot, but we don't want to offend people. So we just say that's interesting, but it's a coffee pot," said Chartrand.

Smith not only came up with the idea, she provided the design and funding to convert it and the coffee pot was on full display when the King and Queen of Sweden visited Lindstrom in 1996.

During the royal visit, the pot had steam pouring from its spout, but that feature eventually stopped.

"So it had steam originally in the early 90s, I think, for a brief period of time. I vaguely remember as a young kid, seeing it or hearing about it, I can't quite remember," said Jason Quist, owner of Aerotek Heating and Air Conditioning.

‘We hope people stop’

What they're saying:

Quist was enlisted to bring the steam back to the coffee pot after a group of community members decided to revive the feature.

They sold miniature replicas of the water tower to raise the $12,000 dollars needed to turn their dream into a reality.

Only this time, instead of a steam boiler, Quist will install a fog machine to simulate steam at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. daily. The timing coincides with the Swedish tradition of Fika, where people in Sweden take a break to sit down and have coffee with friends a couple of times a day.

"It'll give people driving through town several times and options to be able to catch it as they're stopping in, shopping, eating, and all of that, so it'll be pretty cool," said Quist.

City leaders hope the steam from the coffee pot will stimulate interest in visiting America's Little Sweden.

After all, it already has the community buzzing like it did more than 30 years ago.

"I would have never dreamed in a million years that an old water tower would become an icon like it is. I don't know why things become symbols as they do, but it's definitely a symbol for our area," said Chartrand.

Dig deeper:

For more information about the Lindstrom Coffee Pot Water Tower, click here.