Darwin, MN

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Darwin Minnesota is known for the World’s Largest Ball of Twine rolled by Francis A. Johnson he was a quiet man who spent his entire life in Meeker County.

For reasons that are lost to time, he began rolling a ball of twine in his basement 1950. Francis rolled twine four hours a day, every day. He eventually moved the ball onto his front lawn and used railroad jacks to ensure proper wrapping; Johnson cared as much about his ball’s roundness as its diameter. For 29 years this magnificent sphere evolved at Johnson’s farm, and he eventually built a circular open air shed to protect it from the elements.

Johnson didn’t stop until 1979. By then his ball weighed almost 9 tons and was 12 feet wide. He died of emphysema, and the town figured that nearly thirty years of twine dust killed him. But Darwin was also proud of Johnson, and somehow rolled his big ball next to the water tower. It’s known as “World’s Largest Twine Ball Rolled by One Man”