"We don't really know what we want to do yet," conceded Roberta Eckman, secretary of the West Whiteland Township Historical Commission. But recovering the head would be helpful.
Committee members are willing to go easy on whoever took it. They just want it back.
Before closing in the mid-1980s, the Guernsey Cow ice cream and sandwich shop was one of the most recognizable landmarks in Exton.
"The Cow," as it was known, grew up along with Philadelphia's suburbs.
The shop was called the Exton Dairy Grille when Larry Polite bought it in 1941 and renamed it.
At the time, Route 30 was "the trail west before we had any bypasses," Eckman said, and Polite thought a colossal cow sign would attract business. He had to wait, however, until the war was over to get enough sheet metal to construct his gigantic advertisement.
Polite, who died in 2006, hired a local artist to design a three-dimensional cow with blinking lights for eyes.
"Meet me at the Cow" became a popular local refrain, Eckman said.
Gail McCahon, who has lived in the area most of her life, remembers eating ice cream at the Cow during her childhood, when Exton was "the sticks" and the "fancy ice cream parlor" served as one of the only meeting places.
At the time, the only nearby developments were a Howard Johnson's and the Exton Lodge.
"All these places are gone" now, McCahon said.
The Guernsey Cow ultimately suffered from the decline in Route 30 traffic brought on by construction of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Extension in 1950 and the Exton Mall in 1973. It survived, in part, on the popularity of its caramels, which were shipped to customers around the country, said Sean McGlinchey, Polite's grandson and unofficial Cow historian.
(McGlinchey's website, theguernseycow.com, is a repository of old documents and pictures of the restaurant.)
