A 50,000 gallon Dixie Cup removed from roof of shuttered Lehigh Valley factory

A gigantic replica of a Dixie Cup that sat atop the Lehigh Valley's former Georgia-Pacific plant for about a century was removed from the shuttered factory Thursday morning.

The 50,000-gallon cup, a fixture of the landscape just outside Easton, was taken down with a 500-ton crane as part of a plan to redevelop the site. Onlookers came out to take photos and watch the landmark get removed from the factory. Dixie Cups were produced at the plant until the complex closed in the 1980s. The property has been vacant ever since.

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The replica in Wilson Borough, visible for miles, had long served as a water tower and billboard for manufacturer Georgia-Pacific in a region that had pivotal shipping connections via railroads and surrounding rivers. The factory opened in the early 1920s.

Developer Skyline Investment Group plans to construct more than 400 apartments at the site and create a new park where the Dixie Cup will return as a display piece.

"It's going to be receiving the care that it needs, and it's going to be preserved for everybody to enjoy," Wilson Borough Mayor Donald Barrett told WFMZ-TV.

The $185 million development will include a movie theater and other commercial spaces.

Skyline Investment Group has hired steampunk artist and designer Bruce Rosenbaum, whose work has appeared on the Netflix series "Amazing Interiors," to refurbish and make improvements to the Dixie Cup, Lehigh Valley Live reported. The landmark has become rusted and weathered over the years, and Wilson Borough police said the plant was targeted by an arsonist last year.

The developer also plans to install a new and larger fiberglass replica of a Dixie Cup atop the completed apartment building to recognize the site's history and its place in the landscape.

When the factory complex in Wilson Borough closed, Georgia-Pacific moved Dixie Cup production to another facility about 15 miles north in Forks Township. That plant closed in 2021 and most of the company's products are now made in Kentucky.