Joe Macken has been a truck driver for more than 18 years. He delivers for a beverage company along a 200-mile route four days a week, starting his workday about 5 a.m.
So when it came time for the “biggest delivery” of his life, Macken said he would “never let anybody else drive that truck.”
That delivery took Macken earlier this month from a storage facility near his home in Saratoga, N.Y., to New York City. Contained inside a rented U-Haul was Macken’s not-so-miniature marvel: an amazingly detailed 50-foot by 27-foot scale model of all five boroughs of Macken’s hometown.
It consists of nearly 1 million individual pieces carved by Macken from wood, cardboard, and glue, often at night after completing his delivery route. Built little by little over more than two decades, Macken’s work went on display last week at the Museum of the City of New York. The exhibit is titled “He Built This City: Joe Macken’s Model” and will be open to the public through August.
“When you do something every single day consistently for 22 years, it’s amazing what you can accomplish,” Macken said.
A hobby with roots in a childhood bedroom in Queens
Building a miniature bridge began as a quirky hobby and a way to use excess tongue depressors from his sister-in-law, a nurse. Macken built a bridge that was six feet long and a foot and a half tall. In a twist of fate, it was destroyed during the move to Saratoga.
“Instead of getting upset, I said I would build something better,” he recalled.
Macken grew up in Queens and could see the Manhattan skyline from his bedroom window as a child in the winter, when the trees were bare. Those memories stuck with him, making it easy to decide why he started his model of New York City.
“It’s the Mecca of the world. It’s where I grew up. It’s my home and something I looked at every single day,” he said. “I wouldn’t think of building anything else first.”
“Joe’s model reflects the wonder and complexity of this city through the eyes of someone who has lived it, loved it, and painstakingly rebuilt it,” said Stephanie Hill Wilchfort, president of the Museum of the City of New York. “We are honored to debut this remarkable work at the Museum.”
With one TikTok video, a trucker becomes a viral sensation
Macken spoke with trucknews.com by phone in the days leading up to transporting his masterpiece and installing it at the museum.
He never set out to build an entire city or to have his work seen by the public. It was only after his daughter prodded him that Macken posted a TikTok video about the project and his process for building detailed miniature structures from balsa wood.
The video instantly went viral, racking up millions of views. It attracted the attention of everyone from “Good Morning America” to The New York Times, culminating in the museum exhibit.
Ahead of transporting the model, Macken shared what he was most anticipating. “I just can’t wait to actually set it up, and the first day when I see the first person coming into the museum and actually looking at it,” he said. “That’s going to be the most exciting thing.”
Macken’s fellow drivers often reach out after reading an article about the exhibit or seeing him profiled on television. He is flattered by the attention, but said he is far more focused on building in his spare time than tracking media mentions.
For Macken, there are no plans to slow down
Despite all of the attention, Macken said he will still be driving his regular shift. He is also working on expanding his New York model outward, as well as building another city — one he has never visited.
Macken said he was always a fan of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and enjoyed watching late-night reruns. The show was set in Minneapolis, and the city’s skyline is shown during the opening credits.
“There’s just something about Minneapolis that I always liked,” Macken said.
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