Hidden History: Bechtel's Cow 'moo-ved' to Mazeppa

Jul. 2—Editor's Note: Today, The Daily Item begins an occasional series looking at Hidden History in the Susquehanna Valley, If you know the location of something that once was a prominent or popular landmark in the Valley that has been lost to the dustbin of history, let us know. Email Editor Bill Bowman at bbowman@dailyitem.com or reporter Justin Strawser at jstrawser@dailyitem.com.MAZEPPA — When Bechtel's Dairy and Restaurant closed nearly 20 years ago, the public gathered around the Lewisburg restaurant to witness the famous fiberglass cow being removed from the roof.

The restaurant's contents were eventually auctioned off, but the owners vowed to keep the life-sized cow in the family. The faux animal statue — once kidnapped as a fraternity prank and appeared in Bucknell University's homecoming parade — was held in storage for at least a decade until Alli Shively brought it back into the light in 2017. The cow now stands on top of a barn along Beaver Run Road in Mazeppa.

"She is part of our family history, she is part of Lewisburg's history," said Shively, the granddaughter of Edwin and Judy Bechtel, the restaurant's last owners. "It seemed silly to keep her hiding."

Bechtel's, a fixture of Lewisburg for 82 years, was opened in 1923 by brothers Donald and Lot Bechtel in downtown Lewisburg at the present location of the Mercantile, 319 Market St. It moved to 520 N. Derr Drive near the intersection of Route 15 and Buffalo Road in 1955. The approximately-100-pound, black and white dairy cow named Bessie, however, was a later addition to the business, having been purchased from a dairy farm in Peoria, Ill., in 1970.

Edwin and Judy, who married in 1961, took over ownership of the restaurant in the early 1990s. Edwin, who passed away in 1992, was the son of Donald and Helyn Bechtel, the original owners.

The 130-seat restaurant closed on Dec. 31, 2005. The Daily Item reported Dec. 2, 2005, that necessary building renovations and installation of new machinery to make ice cream was estimated to cost $1 million or more. Competitions from franchise restaurant chains also contributed to the closure.

Bessie, who sits on the barn about 10 feet off the ground, can be seen from the road. Shively lives there with her husband Travis Shively and their 2-year-old daughter Kali.

"When we first put her up, we had a lot of slow drivers, people who pulled into the driveway, people with spotlights looking at night," said Alli Shively. "It was kind of creepy at first. We're used to the attention at this point. People stop to take pictures. It's nice for people to be able to view it as well."

'A landmark'

The cow was well-known to people in the Valley.

"It was a landmark (in Lewisburg)," said Susan Lloyd, the daughter of Judy Bechtel and Alli Shivley's mother. "People used to say turn left or right at the cow."

Bechtel's sold merchandise of Bessie when it was open, including beanie cows, mugs and t-shirts.

The recipe used to manufacture Bechtel's ice cream were the recipes of the late Edwin Bechtel, who studied dairy manufacturing at Penn State, according to newspaper records.

In 2001, The Daily Item reported that Bechtel employed three full-time drivers who delivered ice cream along three wholesale routes to more than 200 convenience markets, businesses, restaurants, hospitals, schools (including Shikellamy and Selinsgrove Area) and nursing homes. Bechtel's milk was bottled and processed in Schuylkill Haven and brought to Lewisburg where it was distributed by Bechtel's drivers to businesses like Walmart and Kmart.

Alli Shively was 10 years old when Bechtel's closed. She said she remembers helping in the kitchen and making dinosaur nuggets.

"I thought it was the coolest thing ever to make the dinosaur nuggets," she said.

Cow stolen

The cow was famously stolen in the middle of the night between Sept. 25 and Sept. 26, 1981, and recovered on Oct. 5 in the vicinity of the Art Barn on Bucknell University's property near the golf course.

"We got a call one morning really early from the police. They said, 'your cow is missing,'" said Judy Bechtel, now 85.

Edwin Bechtel in newspaper articles from 1981 theorized that "a couple of fraternity guys had their eye on it."

"I tell you, they'll steal anything today," Edwin Bechtel told reporters at the time. "It was kind of a difficult job. Whoever it was would have needed a double-extension ladder just to reach the sign."

The Lewisburg Police reported on Oct. 23, 1981, that his theory was true: three Bucknell University students were responsible for the theft. The officer did not release any names because an agreement was made with the Bechtels that no charges would be filed as long as restitution was made in the amount of $362 for repairs.

"He (Edwin) never got mad at anybody," Lloyd said of her father.

The students took the cow from its perch atop Bechtel's and carried it over the roof to their car at the rear of the business. The act apparently occurred on the spur of the moment after a party while the students were looking for a place to eat, police said in newspaper records.

The students drove through alleys and side streets to avoid detection, and they stashed the cow in their residence at Bucknell for several days. They then moved the cow to the area around the art barn and covered it up after police pressure to return the cow became too great, according to newspaper records.

As a result of the settlement, Bucknell gave permission to have the cow in its homecoming parade on Oct. 24, 1981, according to newspaper records.

The cow was taken to the former Culp's Body Shop in Vicksburg to repair some minor damage, according to newspaper records from Oct. 21, 1981.

"It needed a paint job," said Lloyd.

"You can see where they patched some of the spots up if you get up close," said Shively.

Less than a month later, the cow was taken again on Nov. 1 and found the same day on top of the Doebler's Service Station on 910 Market St., Lewisburg. The cow was found wearing a red beanie and a bell, according to The Daily Item on Nov. 1, 1981.

That time, Judy Bechtel recalled, was just a joke played by her husband's friends.

Items auctioned off

An auction was held on Sept. 7, 2006, to sell off signs, equipment, furnishings, a walk-in freezer, a 7-foot ice cream cooler, up-right freezers, ice cream dipping cabinets, a soda fountain unit, hot water heaters, a gas steam boiler, gas heater, motors, dishes, milk cans, an oil drum, tar roofing and more, according to newspaper archives.

In addition to the Bucknell Homecoming Parade, Bessie was also in Lewisburg's Homecoming Parade. Following the restaurant's closure, Bessie was a bridesmaid in a wedding of a couple who met at Bechtel's and also made an appearance at a restaurant reunion a few years ago, the family said.

After the reunion, Shively decided to keep the cow out of storage and display it in the open. Bessie is often decorated for the holidays: wreaths during Christmas or flags during the Fourth of July.

The Bechtel's restaurant has since been torn down, but a brick building on the property formerly owned by the family still stands. It once held The Frosty Cow, a soft serve ice cream shop owned by the Bechtel's, and the hard homemade ice cream was made in the Bechtel's restaurant on the second story of the building.

The property is now occupied by several businesses: Sherwin Williams Paints, AAA Insurance and Fairfield Chevrolet Cadillac/Fairfield Auto Group. The brick building, which still has a "creamery building" sign on the side of the structure, is an office building with several businesses, including IT services, therapy, massage, realty and others.

The booths and chairs from Bechtel's can also be found at the Purple Cow at 4716 Old Turnpike Road, Lewisburg, the family said.

"There's still things floating around," said Lloyd. "I'll see them on Facebook Marketplace. Little milk bottles are sold for quite a bit of money. Milk crates or signs or whatever it may be. It still floats around. People are still interested in it."

Judy Bechtel, who turned 85 on Friday, is happy to see the cow still standing at her granddaughter's house.

"I am very proud of them," she said.