My wife and I are on a mission to visit all the oversized local landmarks throughout Minnesota. This blog chronicles those visits and covers other related topics.
Henry Leuhr was a Hereford rancher from North Dakota, somewhere near Jamestown I believe. Henry decided to build a giant Hereford 30-feet tall and 50-feet long by laying strips of wood one on top of another and cementing them in place. As you can see, he also built stairs on the front of the bull. He also had more stairs on the inside and a hole in the top so you could sit on top of it.
After Henry died in 1996, the bull fell into disrepair. His son moved the bull two years later to Buchanan, ND where it sat outside of a small bar. There is stood deteriorating for years because it was too expensive and time consuming to repair. It was reported gone in January of 2007, according to Roadside America.
My mother has informed me that Northern Light had recorded "Minnesota" and that it reached #88 on the top 100 in 1975. You can listen to the song here. There is some other information about the group on that page too. Apparently, they have been inducted into the Minnesota Rock/Country Hall of Fame.
The playlist so far: Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota - Weird Al Yankovic Stevie Nix - The Hold Steady Mr. Big Stuff - Jean Knight (or Heavy D & the Boyz) Such Great Heights - The Postal Service An Ear For Baby - The Thermals Minneapolis - That Dog Minnesota - The Push Stars Minnesota - The Mountain Goats Say Shh... - Atmosphere We Got as Far as Minnesota - Kind of Like Spitting Minnesota Moon - The Big Wu Minnesota - Northern Light
Pennsylvania's Lincoln Highway is littered with roadside attractions. Not all of them are Big Stuff, but there are a few along the way. Pennsylvania is home to a few giant Amish statues, a really creepy pie woman and child, a variety of Muffler Men, and a pub that serves the World's Largest Hamburgers. See the map.
I decided to include some songs about (sometimes loosely) Minnesota. Here are a few that I like.
Minneapolis - by That Dog
A song by this now defunct Los Angeles indie band about a long distance relationship. The guy is from Minneapolis, she is not. I found a fan video posted on their MySpace page. They also drop the name of the Duluth indie band Low in the song.
A fun, upbeat song. The best audio I could find is this incomplete live radio clip. If you really want to hear the song for free and don't mind watching a photo slideshow of kids you don't know, you can search for it on Youtube. There is a senior video from some Catholic school that starts with this song.
Minnesota - by The Mountain Goats
I really like this song. Unfortunately, I can only find 30 second sound clips of it on sites like Amazon.com.
Say Shh... - by Atmosphere
Minneapolis's Atmoshpere, masters of DIY indie hip-hop, "wanted to make a song about where they're from". Say Shh... is a tribute to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the whole Midwest.
Here is a live video from a performance at First Avenue.
There is another one here and a decent fan video here, although he cut off the end of the song.
We Got As Far As Minnesota - by Kind of Like Spitting
All I have for this one is an Amazon sound clip. You can listen to other songs at his/their MySpace page.
Minnesota Moon - by The Big Wu
The Big Wu were a Minneapolis jam band. They have a live version of Minnesota Moon on their MySpace.
The World's Largest Replica Cheese was built to honor and remember the World's Largest Real Cheese, a 17-ton Wisconsin made cheddar that was displayed at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair. The cheddar was cut up and eaten in 1965.
The replica was built and placed in the Cheesemobile, a semi tractor with a refrigerated trailer that has (had) one plexi-glass side for viewing, that the original was in. It was then moved to Neillsville, WI. The replica was there for 40 years until it was sold in 2005 to a truck collector who was only interested in the tractor and not so much the giant polystyrene hunk of cheese. Go figure. Maintenance issues and expenses on the trailer were the reasons for the sale.
I don't know exactly what this replica cheese's fate was. Perhaps it still sits somewhere mostly unharmed, perhaps it was simply trashed, or perhaps it was used for the world's largest replica fondue. We may never find out for sure, but we do know that it no longer sits on display in Neillsville after 40 glorious years.
For more information on the World's Largest Replica Cheese, click here, here, and here.
