NEW YORK (AP) — A New York truck driver’s decades-long hobby turned into a museum exhibit after his massive handmade model of New York City gained millions of views on social media. Joe Macken spent more than 20 years recreating his hometown using balsa wood and foam board, constructing more tha n 800,000 miniature buildings across all five boroughs, along with portions of New Jersey and Long Island. According to The Associated Press, Macken’s daughter encouraged him to share videos of the project on TikTok, where the model attracted more than 10 million views in one week. The attention eventually led the Museum of the City of New York to feature his creation in an exhibit titled “He Built This City.” The model measures approximately 50 feet long and 30 feet wide, with more than 300 interconnected foam boards displaying streets, neighborhoods and landmarks. Each inch represents roughly 160 feet of the actual city. Macken began the project in his 40s after moving from Long Island to upstate New York. Inspired by a childhood visit to the Queens Museum’s famous city panorama, he started by recreating Rockefeller Center before spending nearly a decade building Midtown Manhattan. Despite having no formal training in architecture or model building, Macken continued expanding his creation during his free time, often bringing supplies on family vacations and working on buildings between shifts. The miniature city includes recognizable landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty, Yankee Stadium and the Brooklyn Bridge. However, Macken also preserved parts of New York that no longer exist, including the original World Trade Center towers and a childhood diner that has since been replaced. The exhibit opened in February and ran through October 12, allowing visitors to explore the detailed recreation and locate familiar neighborhoods and landmarks. Macken hopes to display the model at additional locations and plans to continue expanding it with more than 50 new buildings and additional sections of New Jersey and Long Island. What began as a personal hobby has become a tribute to the city Macken grew up in, combining decades of craftsmanship with memories of a changing New York. The post Truck driver’s 800,000-building model of New York City becomes museum exhibit appeared first on WOWO News/Talk 92.3 FM and 1190 AM. ...read more read less