Matchstick Marvels Truly Is A Marvel

Iowa is full of quirky roadside attractions, but the most impressive one we visited was Matchstick Marvels in Gladbrook.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much of it. I’d seen online that Matchstick Marvels features sculptures created by Patrick Acton using matchsticks, so I was expecting something hokey and not particularly special.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Matchstick Marvels features true works of art. The intricacy of the designs is incredible, while the effort and patience needed to create them must be unbelievable – his designs truly are marvels.

The museum is in a nondescript building in downtown Gladbrook. The employee who was taking payment for entry was very friendly and gave us lots of interesting information about the history of Patrick Acton’s creations. We learned how he used to manually remove match heads before finding out that he could buy matchsticks before their heads are added, presumably saving a significant amount of preparation time.

The last manufacturer of matchsticks in the US no longer makes them, so before they shut down production Acton purchased 5 million of them. That was several years ago, so he’s now down to his last million matchsticks.

The First Two Matchstick Marvels

The Church

The very first model he made using matchsticks was a church in 1977. It was given away as a gift, but they do have a photo of it at the museum so you can see what it looked like. It was created using 500 matchsticks which, compared to most of his subsequent sculptures, is hardly anything at all.

The Barn

His second model was a barn created in 1978 using 5,000 matchsticks as a gift for his father at Christmas.

There’s a list at the museum showing all of the Matchstick Marvels he’s created over the past 45 years. Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! has paid Patrick Acton to create matchstick models for them over the years which is why many of those are listed as being located in different Ripley’s locations around the US.

Most of the models at Matchstick Marvels fall under one of three categories – buildings, transportation and animals & birds. Here’s what was on display when we visited in July 2022; it seems like the models change over time, so you might see some different sculptures if visiting in the future.

Buildings

United States Capitol Building

For me, the most impressive of the matchstick creations we saw at the museum was the United States Capitol building. As you can see in the photo below, the scale – 12 feet long and 5.5 feet high – and intricacy of the design is phenomenal.

The building was created using almost 500,000 matchsticks, along with 10 gallons of carpenter’s glue. Its construction took 2,000 hours, with Acton working on it from August 1999 to April 2001.

Just before we left, the employee turned off the lights in the museum and showed how the building can be lit up.

Terrace Hill

Another of his models was of Terrace Hill, a recreation of the Iowa Governor’s mansion. The real mansion can be found in Des Moines, but we missed seeing it when in Des Moines recently which is a shame as it looks like an interesting building.

This was created using 193,000 matches and he spent December 1995 to May 1996 making it.

Notre Dame

Another of his excellent building designs is the Notre Dame in Paris. It was made using 298,000 matchsticks, 2,000 toothpicks and over 10 gallons of glue.

Transportation

Cutty Sark

Patrick Acton has constructed many different forms of transportation using matchsticks. My favorite of all of those was the Cutty Sark which he worked on from April 1995 to January 1996.

It was made with almost 40,000 matchsticks – even the sails were made using them. He used condensed Styrofoam formed to the right shape, then used those to ensure the matchsticks curved correctly.

How amazing is it that this was made using matchsticks?!

U.S.S. Challenger

More than 200,000 matchsticks were needed in order to construct the U.S.S. Challenger. It didn’t state how tall the model is, but I’d guess it was at least 6 feet tall. Once again, the patience needed to make something like this from matchsticks is hard to believe.

Saturn V Rocket

The Space Shuttle Challenger wasn’t the only space-themed model. One of Acton’s most recent sculptures was the Saturn V Rocket which was completed in 2020 having used 241,000 matchsticks.

The Saturn V Rocket is an interactive model because there’s a button you can press on a display to open a section of it, with its rocket boosters lighting up too. You can see video footage of it in the video at the end of the post.

Lunar Module Eagle

The year before finishing the Saturn V Rocket, he made the Lunar Module Eagle. This is another interactive model that has a hatch that opens – you can see that in action in the video at the end of the post too.

U.S.S. Iowa

There are several navy ships made of matchsticks on display at Matchstick Marvels. The largest was the U.S.S. Iowa which was made using 137,000 matchsticks.

U.S.S. The Sullivans

U.S.S. The Nimitz

AH-64A Apache

Other forms of matchstick-formed transportation include a helicopter, airplanes and a wagon.

The Wright Flyer

SR-71 Blackbird

Conestoga Wagon

P-51 Mustang

Although Patrick Acton has used varnish on some models, the only Matchstick Marvel that’s been painted is the P-51 Mustang plane. He didn’t like the end result of this design though because he thought it cheapened the look of the model, so he’s not painted any of his sculptures since.

Animals & Birds

Brontosaurus

They’re not as prevalent as the buildings and forms of transportation, but he’s created some models in the past of animals and birds too.

American Bald Eagle

Matchstick Marvels Found Elsewhere

As mentioned earlier, many Matchstick Marvels were created for Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! locations around the US. These are some of the most impressive models, so it’s a shame that you can’t see them in person at Matchstick Marvels, but there were photos on the walls of the museum which help give a sense of their scale.

Fortress City Minas Tirith From Lord Of The Rings

This is one of his largest creations having been made with 420,000 matchsticks. It can be found at the Ripley’s in Hollywood, CA.

Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft & Wizardry From Harry Potter

Another amazing achievement was Hogwarts which took just over 600,000 matchsticks to construct and is housed at Ripley’s in Baltimore, MD.

Steampunk Plane Loco

The largest of all of Acton’s creations is the Steampunk Plane Loco. It required 1,029,000 matchsticks and is located at the Ripley’s in New York. To give you a sense of its size you can see Acton inside the model in the photo below.

Matchstick Marvels Video

Shae took videos of some of the models that give a closer look at the sculptures to help you get an even better sense of how detailed his work is.

How Much Does It Cost To Visit Matchstick Marvels?

When visiting Matchstick Marvels in July 2022, the ticket fees were as follows:

• Adults – $5
• Children 5-12 – $3

Address

Matchstick Marvels, 319 2nd St, Gladbrook, IA 50635