The Bigger the Better

What possesses someone to build the world's largest office chair? Or make car formations that resemble Stonehenge? In the wacky world of America's Roadside Wonders, one finds even the most common items re-created to Green Giant-size proportions.

The World's Largest Ball of Twine in Cawker City, KS, endures as one of stranger U.S. tourist attractions. This mind-boggling achievement and over-the-top silliness began in 1952 when farmer Frank Stoeber found it efficient to roll spare bits of sisal twine into a small ball in his barn. Over the years, he never reused or disposed of the twine, and by 1957 the ball weighed 2-1/2 tons and stood 8 feet tall. By the time he turned it over to the town for all to enjoy, Stoeber had over 1,600,000 feet of twine rolled into a sphere 11 feet in diameter.

But a twine battle was brewing. A few states away in Darwin, MN, Francis Johnson had been rolling his own twine since 1950. Though twine ball battle statistics are sketchy from the early years, it's believed Stoeber's was larger. After Stoeber's death in 1974, Johnson surged back and broke the 11-foot diameter "Twine Barrier." He continued rolling until his own death in 1989.

Not to be out-twined, Cawker City took action. They organized an annual Twine-a-Thon, where anyone could step up and wrap more scrap twine onto the ball to once again claim victory. Today, the ominous sphere is the center of many twine-ball related events and activities. Caretakers Linda and Jack Clover are happy to break out twine spools and wrapping apparatus at a moment's notice, but beware, they're on the lookout for improper wrapping—string and yarn are not allowed. As of 2003, the total twine length was a staggering 7,049,191 feet.

Cawker City is proud of its ball of twine, an obsession-driven achievement that we all can enjoy as we travel the roads of America. Where else can you eat a burger in the world's largest cattle skull, sit next to the world's largest office chair or take a picture next to the worlds largest peanut? They're all truly America's wonders.

Editor-in-chief, AAA Going Places