World
Iowa is home to 14 of the ‘World’s Largest’ things — do you know what they are?
Just curious: This occasional feature in the Des Moines Register aims to answer your questions about Iowa. Is there some place, event, lore, history or cultural quirk you’re just curious about? Email your question to the Des Moines Register’s Bill Steiden at wsteiden@registermedia.com.
Have you ever stopped to think about where the World’s Largest Bullhead is? Maybe the World’s Largest Cheeto? What about the World’s Largest Wooden Nickel?
Well, you’re in luck because Iowa is home to 14 of the “world’s largest” things.
Here’s a list and where you can find them:
Albert, the World’s Largest Bull
Have you ever met Albert? The 28-foot-tall sire in Audubon is one of Iowa’s small-town celebrities. The 40-ton concrete blue-eyed stud was built in 1964, making him one of the oldest concrete bulls, too. You can’t forget what makes a bull, a bull, either: he does have has massive gonads.
Around 1 hour and 20 minutes west of the metro, Audubon is a small town of about 2,000 right off Interstate 44. Albert brings around 20,000 visitors every year.
The World’s Largest Bullhead
If you grew up fishing in Iowa’s lakes, you’ve probably come across these not-so-tasty bottom dwellers. Crystal Lake, Iowa, is home to the 12-foot-long cousin of the catfish.
About a half-hour west of Clear Lake, Iowa, the fish, which was built in 1958 and restored in 2007, sits right at the edge of Crystal Lake.
The World’s Largest Cheeto
If you’ve ever been eating Cheetos, pulled one out, and said, “Wow! This has got to be the world’s largest Cheeto!” you are probably wrong — the World’s Largest Cheeto is in Algona.
Originally found in a bag of Cheetos in Hawaii by Navy Officer Mike Evans in 2003, the Cheeto was originally on eBay. Eventually, the Cheeto was rehomed after local radio DJ Bryce Wilson started a campaign to bring it to Iowa.
Though not as intact as it used to be, you can visit the World’s Largest Cheeto in Algona, about an hour west of Interstate 35.
Elwood, the World’s Largest Concrete Gnome
Meet Elwood, the concrete gnome that resides in Iowa State University’s Reiman Gardens.
Sculpted by Andy and Connie Kautza of National Rock and Sculpture in Wausau, Wisconsin, Elwood was installed and dedicated in 2010.
Elwood was intended to be the World’s Largest Gnome, but during his construction, a larger gnome was found in Poland. So, Elwood is known as the World’s Largest Concrete Gnome.
Named after the original street Reiman Gardens was located on, Elwood is located in Ames, which is right off of Interstate 35.
More: Iowa deserves more love as an arts destination. The proof is in these 5 cities.
The World’s Largest Garden Trowel
The World’s Largest Garden Trowel used to call the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City home. Then, in 2004, it was moved to Des Moines to celebrate Meredith Corp.’s 100th anniversary.
Built in 2001 by artists Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, the aluminum, plastic and steel trowel stands at 23 feet tall and weighs 2,300 pounds.
That’s a lot of trowel!
The World’s Largest Golden Spike
Originally installed in 1939 for the premiere of the movie “Union Pacific” in Omaha, Nebraska, the 56-foot-tall spike holds the record for the World’s Largest Golden Spike. It stands tall beside the Union Pacific Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs.
Council Bluffs has a long history with the railroad as a mid-country stop of the Union Pacific Railroad. The railroad was finished in 1869 and still serves the U.S. today as the second-largest railway in the country.
The World’s Largest Manmade Grotto
Known to Iowans as the “eighth wonder of the world” the Grotto of Redemption in West Bend is the only thing on this list that’s also on the National Register of Historic Places.
Construction began on this football field-sized grotto in 1912 by Father Paul Matthias Dobberstein of Germany. Built of precious gemstones like jasper, quartz and amethyst, the entire grotto is estimated to have $4.3 million worth of stones and crystals.
Some 100,000 tourists come to the small town of West Bend, with a population of less than 1,000, to see the grotto every year. Some come for religious reasons while others come to see the grotto itself.
West Bend is around an hour west of Interstate 35 in northern Iowa.
The World’s Largest Pocahontas
Perhaps unironically, the World’s Largest Pocahontas is located in Pocahontas. Built in 1956, Pocahontas stands 25 feet tall and seven feet wide, made completely out of concrete.
Known as the “World’s Largest Indian Maiden Monument” by the World Record Academy, she can be found just over an hour west of Interstate 35 in northern Iowa. Don’t worry, she isn’t too hard to find.
The World’s Largest Pickleball Paddle
Besides playing pickleball and arcade games and enjoying the bar at West Des Moines’ Smash Park, you also can stare in awe at the World’s Largest Pickleball Paddle
Known as “Big Blue” by the employees and guests at Smash Park, the paddle weighs 150 pounds and is more 13 feet tall — 10 times larger than the average paddle.
Confirmed by Guinness World Records in 2018, the paddle isn’t the only world’s biggest thing at Smash Park — it also has the world’s largest outdoor patio.
The World’s Largest Popcorn Ball
With a height of 8 feet, the World’s Largest Popcorn Ball calls Sac City home.
This isn’t the first time Iowa has been home to the largest popcorn ball. Sac City has come together four times in the past 30 years to keep the record upheld. This particular attempt to keep the record in Iowa was put together in 2016 and weighs 9,370 pounds — and could (hypothetically) be edible.
The popcorn ball has its own home, completely encased to preserve its legacy. And probably to not be eaten. There also is a village and a museum.
You can see the popcorn ball around an hour west of Interstate 35 in Sac City in northern Iowa.
The World’s Largest Strawberry
No, you can’t eat this one. This 15-foot-tall strawberry resides in the aptly named Strawberry Point. Located not too far from the Wisconsin border, this fiberglass strawberry was put up in the 1960s after a local ad agency designed it.
An hour from Iowa’s eastern border and 20 minutes north of Manchester, which is right off U.S. 20, you, too, can indulge in seeing this delicious-looking strawberry.
The World’s Largest Swedish Coffee Pot & Coffee Cup
While it no longer looms over Stanton, the world’s second-largest Swedish coffee pot still calls the small town home.
The coffee pot was dethroned in the 1990s after a slightly larger one, with a difference of only 10,000 gallons, was erected in Kingsburg, California.
The town’s water tower was transformed in 1971, dedicated to Virginia Christine, also known as Mrs. Olson from Folgers Coffee commercials back in the day.
What does loom over the just-shy of 700 people town, is the World’s Largest Swedish Coffee Cup, which acts as the town’s current water tower.
Iowa 80, the World’s Largest Truck Stop
Located just 20 minutes away from the Quad Cities is the World’s Largest Truck Stop, Iowa 80.
With more than 130,000 square feet, Iowa 80 is home to everything from a Dairy Queen to a dog groomer, and even a chiropractor.
Now celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, what some call a “Trucker’s Disneyland” has eight restaurants, a convenience store, a gift store and more for truckers, travelers and world’s largest enthusiasts to enjoy.
Open 24/7, the World’s Largest Truck Stop is a metropolis like no other.
The World’s Largest Wooden Nickel
While Iowa isn’t home to the largest nickel in the world (Greater Sudbury in Ontario, Canada holds that record), it is home to the largest wooden nickel, just a stone’s throw away from Interstate 80.
The (wooden) nickel, with a diameter of 16 feet, bears the etching of a buffalo with the phrases “Don’t Tread On Me” and “Vote for Common Sense.” It was originally built by Iowa City local Jim Glasgow in 2006, a time of protest against the widening and redevelopment of the highway right next to where the nickel stands.
More: Years after protest, ‘World’s Largest Wooden Nickel’ endures
The building of the nickel was a not-so-subtle insinuation that the county’s proposal was “not worth a wooden nickel.”
Built of yellow pine and steel rods, the nickel has endured 18 years of weathering, yet still stands strong as one of Iowa’s most unique world records.
Did I miss one? Let me know! You can reach me at kwerner@dmreg.com.
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