Gladbrook, Iowa - Matchstick Marvels Museum

This odd, but interesting, display features the work of matchstick sculptor (and career counselor!) Patrick Aston. Using only matchsticks, Patrick has painstakingly created detailed models of the U.S. Capitol, the space shuttle Challenger, the Iowa governor's mansion, the USS Iowa, the Wright Brother's Kitty Hawk, and much more. Literally millions of matchsticks and thousands of hours have been spent creating this work. Ripley's Believe It or Not museums have purchased several of Patrick's creations and they are on display around the world. [Jeff Hoskinson, 05/02/2008]

From a brief description in a recent newspaper article: "The Gladbrook Matchstick Marvel Museum includes 50 extraordinary models made from 2 million matchsticks, some of which have been featured in Ripley's 'Believe It or Not.'"

The builder of these models made many, many more, but they are currently in other Ripley's museums, all over the world. They have a short video about the builder/artist and how he does the construction. It's very "small town"...not a huge commercial entity. As a matter of fact, there are about five or six chairs in a semi-circle around a television monitor, on which to view the video. There is a slight admission charge to cover upkeep. [Linda Cadwell, 05/20/2007]

Matchstick Marvels is a small display in the Gladbrook tourist center by artist Patrick Acton. Using only matchsticks and wood glue, he has made incredibly detailed models of buildings ,ships and animals. It's out in the middle of nowhere, but definitely worth the trip. [Karen Battaglia, 11/10/2006]

[RA: Acton's version of Harry Potter's Hogwarts School, on display here, took 602,000 matchsticks.]

Pat Acton doesn't look like he's the world's greatest anything -- but in the field of building things out of matchsticks, he has no peer. A series of scale model planes, trains, ships, and famous buildings (made from matchsticks!) are squeezed into this spiffy new museum in the Gladbrook City Centre. I'm partial to the US Capital (478,000 matchsticks!). And, yes, there are larger matchstick models out there, but you'd have to go to Orlando for that. [b. goldsberry, 07/16/2005]