World's Largest Rubber Stamp

Cleveland, Ohio

The World's Largest Rubber Stamp is a conspicuous landmark near the harbor in downtown Cleveland, a growing nexus of tourism thrills that includes the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and the USS Cod, a W.W.II sub.

The story we heard about the stamp is this:

Standard Oil of Ohio (later purchased by BP, which merged with Amoco) commissioned artist Claes Oldenburg to create the 28-ft tall, 48-ft long steel office stamp in 1985. Intended for the voluminous lobby of their Euclid Avenue headquarters, the company had a change of management before its completion. The new boss didn't care much for a gigantic rubber stamp with the word "FREE" on it, so it was put in storage in a warehouse in Whiting, Indiana.

There it sat for seven years, until another corporate bigwig, Larry Fuller, questioned why Amoco was paying the storage fee on a big rubber stamp. In 1991, Amoco offered to donate it to Cleveland as a grand piece of public art. The city politely refused, noting that they didn't have the funds to install or maintain it. Amoco offered to do the whole job for "FREE" -- and the rest is rubber stamp history.