Darwin’s TWINE BALL MUSEUM
Above is the Darwin Museum, located on First Street, featuring the famous twine ball. Below, the man who created the ball of twine,
Francis Johnson.
The Darwin Museum is most commonly known as the home
of the largest ball of twine made by one man. The museum,
however, has many more items that help tell the story of the
small town.
Visitors to the museum will get to view the twine ball at
close range in its sealed gazebo on the museum’s front lawn.
They will also see many Darwin artifacts as part of an exhibit
on Darwin town baseball.
Darwin was once quite a baseball town, with nearly 1,000
fans showing their support at each hometown game.
Possibly the most legendary in Darwin’s baseball history are
two of its own players – Fred “Lefty” Miller and Milt Goemer,
who went off to play professional baseball.
In August 2011, a painting titled “Lefty Miller on the Mound,”
painted by Lavona Keskey, was donated to the museum
and city. It portrays the July 4, 1908, double-header game
when Miller pitched a four-hit shutout for the St. Paul Saints,
defeating the Minneapolis Millers 3-0 at Lexington Park in St.
Paul.
Pictures of the town’s teams can be seen in an exhibit,
along with baseball uniforms, and the Goemer MVP trophy
and ring.
The famous Darwin Twine Ball
What truly put Darwin on the map, bringing thousands of
visitors from around the world to town each year, has been
its famous ball of twine. Spreading the word even further has
been father and daughter fi lmmakers KC and Bryan Duggan,
who completed a documentary based on the 8.7-ton world-
renowned attraction.
The hour-and-18-minute-long documentary highlights
Francis Johnson, the creator of the original largest ball of
twine, and the two other balls of twine that have competed
for the same notoriety.
Johnson, who was the son of US congressman Magnus
Johnson, wound his fi rst piece of baler twine in March 1950.
As the ball grew, Johnson could no longer wrap the twine
46
|
DASSEL-COKATO VISITORS GUIDE 2019-20
by hand and had to use large railroad jacks, that were built
to lift boxcars, to move the ball of twine.
The twine ball was completed in 1979, and was subsequently
recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records as the
world’s largest ball of twine.
The famous orb weighs 8.7 tons, is 11 feet high, and
measures 40 feet in diameter. Although it’s still the largest
ball of twine made by one man, it was removed from the
Guinness Book in 1994. The Darwin twine ball was replaced in
the book by a ball of plastic twine made by several people,
and weighing considerably less.
Every summer the town celebrates what it’s most famous
for with Twine Ball Day, featured the second Saturday in
August.
The museum is open during the Twine Ball Day celebration,
and by appointment. Those interested in visiting the museum
may contact Chris Hansen at 320-275-4016.