The town's pride and joy rests under a roof and between plexiglass walls.
"Francis A. Johnson 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 in 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" because a rival twine ball in Cawker City, Kansas, is regularly added-to by visitors and townspeople. Darwin feels that this is cheating."
The 'gift shop' was closed on Sunday when we went through.
Notice the benches.
Do people sit and watch the twine ball grow?
Do they contemplate why Frank rolled a big ball of twine?
Hubby signing the guest book.
The bell from a school is also in this little park by the Darwin water tower.
The things you learn from our geocaching adventures...
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