The vintage postcard is dated 1948.
The Miner's Hat Realty is a round shaped building with a huge broad rim miner's hat as the roof, complete with an old-fashioned carbide headlamp. It has a most interesting history, as it began as a roadside diner in 1940. By the mid 1950s The Miner's Hat became a classic drive-in and closed in 1963.
The Miner's Hat opened as a diner by Mary Etta Page and her two daughters. It continued to operate under several owners until the late 1960’s when the building became a real estate office.
The building’s iconic form references the dominant local industry of mining by resembling an enormous miner’s helmet complete with a lighted headlamp.
It's an example of what we call 'programmatic architecture,' which is a type of roadside architecture designed to attract the attention of passing motorists.
Miner's Hat is the
World's Largest Miner's Hat
Functioning now as the Miner's Hat Realty, it was originally a lunch stand serving the surrounding mining population.
World's Largest Miner's Hat:
Built in 1940 by Mary Etta Page, exterior walls of clapboard, shingled helmet. Light was metal, trimmed in neon, and its flame flickered at night, 36 feet long, 20 feet wide, 20 feet high. In 1967, Ted Reynolds purchased the building, widened the windows, added five rooms, and replaced the clapboard with aluminum siding.
Source:
Worlds Largest Things
The Miner's Hat is currently owned by Shelly Hopper who purchased it in 1991. We enjoyed stopping by to see this most unusual building.
The Miner's Hat, in 2022, was listed on National Register of Historic Places.