Jerry Hackett, 85, builds replicas of iconic structures

In Hastings, Minnesota, you'll find a built-to-scale replica of the original Dakota County courthouse made from about 5,000 perfectly placed toothpicks. The artist? 85-year-old Jerry Hackett.

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The courthouse, which took about three months to create, is the latest in a line of impressive sculptures from Hackett, who painstakingly plans and executes one miniature marvel after the next. “He has so many God-given talents, but this one is something else,” his wife Patricia “Pat” Hackett said. When the Hacketts moved from their Bemidji home to a townhome in Shakopee in 2016, Jerry Hackett knew he'd have to find a new hobby.

Hackett, who worked in accounting for a construction company, said “I used to garden a lot, but now I don't have to cut the lawn or shovel snow.” A father of six, Hackett credits his children's schoolwork for planting the idea in his head. “I remember when the kids went to school, they would build a little bridge out of toothpicks and the teachers would put weights on them and see how much weight they could hold,” he said. “I thought, ‘I could really do something with that.” What started as windmills, Ferris wheels and bridges in 2018 has now grown to ornate churches, sprawling schools and Hackett’s latest muse: Minnesota county courthouses.