ST. LOUIS – The City Museum holds several Guinness World Record titles, including the world’s largest pencil and longest seesaw; now they are adding to this list.

The City Museum scored its second Guinness World Record title in 2024 after creating the world’s longest shoelace, measuring at 831.9 meters, or over one-half mile long.

Photo Courtesy of City Museum

The Shoelace Factory inside the City Museum created the shoelace using textile machinery from 1890, which took 24 hours of weaving to complete.

When finalizing the shoelace, custom-made aglets were added to the ends of the lace and then measured by a survey crew on the 150-year-old Eads Bridge for verification.

The City Museum resides in the former International Shoe Company building downtown, which once played a part in St. Louis’ shoe manufacturing scene. Now, The Shoelace Factory sits inside the second floor of the museum, still using antique machinery for custom shoelaces.