Baraboo, WI

Monday, July 6, Terry and I took a day trip to Baraboo, WI. We had always wanted to see the Circus World Museum, and this was our opportunity to check that off the bucket list. We arrived in Baraboo at the awkward time of 10:50, a little too early for lunch. I figured Circus World would have circus food, but Terry agreed that we might eat better in town before we went. Where was downtown Baraboo? We drove past a few restaurants and motels, wondering if that was all there was. After a short drive through a residential area, we saw a sign pointing to the city center. I turned left and soon came to a beautiful building. “What is that?” I asked rhetorically.

My question was soon answered by a sign out front that said “Al. Ringling Mansion” and in small letters underneath “tours, weddings, receptions.” I parked the car.

Al Ringling Mansion

A man and a woman were seated on the porch with two girls hovering near them. There were also four older women standing around. The man told us that he 11:00 tour would start in 5 minutes. The tour took 45 minutes, which would make it officially lunch time when it was over. Terry gave one of the girls $20, and the girl gave us each a ticket.

The mansion was built in 1905 by Al and Lou Ringling at a cost of $100,000 at a time when the average cost of a home was $2000. In today’s dollars that would be about $2 million. The exterior walls were Lake Superior sandstone. Al only lived in the house 11 years, since he died in 1916. Al and Lou had no children, and the house was abandoned for a number of years. When it was on the brink of demolition, the Lion’s Club bought it. They added a ballroom to the back with a bowling alley underneath it. They also gutted the dining room to put in a bar. They used the bedrooms upstairs for office space. They still have a lease on the basement.

Two years ago, our tour guide, his wife, and another couple bought the mansion for $250,000. Joe (the tour guide) and his family live in the servants’ quarters. As we took the tour, Joe explained what was original to the house, what was on loan from the Ringling family, and what he’d found after extensive internet searching. He has really put is life into restoring this house. Someday, he wants the house to be a bed and breakfast.

The house was built when electricity was new. All the light fixtures are electric with gas jets as a backup. The switch plates are engraved with Thomas Edison’s patent, presumably on the back, because the engraving on the front only labeled the switches. Here is the switch plate from Al’s library. Note that switches are push buttons.

Library push-button switch plate for East Panel, Center, and West Panel lights

The library had pictures of the Ringling brothers. They looked a lot alike. Part of it was that they all posed gazing off to the left for (I assume) one of their promotional posters and also because they all had luxuriant moustaches. Albert (Al), Alfred (Alf), Charles, John, and Otto Ringling began the circus in 1884. Two other brothers joined later, Henry in 1886 and Gus in 1889. There was one Ringling sister, Ida, who apparently didn’t have anything to do with the circus, although her sons became involved as their uncles died. Joe explained that Ida had married and moved off somewhere.

I wanted to ask if she had bought the Dole Mansion in Crystal Lake. I remembered that some Ringling relative had owned it long after the Dole family had moved elsewhere. I looked it up this morning, and it was Elliza “Lou” Ringling, Al’s widow. She bought the Dole Mansion in 1922 and turned it into a country club. Like so many things, that went bust in 1929. She sold much of the estate to development after that.

Front entrance with example of the leaded glass used throughout the house

Across the foyer from the library is the ladies’ parlor, where Lou would have greeted her guests. Joe pointed out three cherubs in the mural on the ceiling. These represented the three miscarriages that Lou had. It was common in that time to commemorate lost babies this way.

This is the thermostat for the ladies parlor. Each room had its own thermostat, which controlled steam heat radiators. Joe apologized for the lack of air conditioning, even though the house was not uncomfortably warm with the windows open. He told us how much the installation of air conditioning would be. I don’t recall the number, but it was enough to take one’s breath away.

Original thermostat

At the bottom of the grand stairway was an original mirror. The frame was real gold leaf and the mirror was made of silver.

Silver mirror in gold-leaf frame

A conservatory extended outside the house halfway up the stairs. It is believed that this area was built to mimic the end of the train car on which they spent a lot of their life.

Conservatory mimic the rear of a train car--the outside of this feature is above the car port in the photo of the house exterior

Al and Lou were both performers in the early days of the circus. Lou was a snake charmer. I asked if she continued working after she married Al. Joe explained that she did, as they were already married when Al and his brothers started their circus, and everyone performed in the early days.

The house still has its original bathrooms. A unique feature of the bath is that the water goes in and comes out of the same hole. The tub filled from the bottom when the faucets were turned on. The white knob in the middle says, “WASTE,” and drains the water away when it is pulled up.

Bath tub with unusual plumbing

Al and Lou had separate bedrooms, which was common at the time for anyone who could afford that much space. They also had separate bathrooms. The bedrooms were joined by a huge closet. Al’s unmarried brother Otto had another bedroom, and the fourth bedroom had been built for a nursery that never got used. The room is currently being used for storage of items that need to be restored. One of these items is the original china cabinet from Al and Lou’s personal train car. There are velvet-lined compartments for each glass and dish. Pretty deluxe.

Velvet-lined china cabinet from the Ringlings' train car

At the end of our tour, Joe recommended the Little Village Café, just down the block and across the street. We had a nice lunch. I ordered the grilled cheese sandwich special, which included white cheddar, goat cheese, basil, and a yellow tomato (which I wore down the front of my shirt for the remainder of the afternoon). Terry thought he ordered a grilled cheese sandwich also, but that was followed by a lengthy discussion of the soups of the day, and the waitress only brought him a cup of the seafood chowder. I gave him a bite of my sandwich (which was small, as restaurant sandwiches go, or I would have given him half) and most of my corn chips. He thought that would be enough food, so we didn’t try to re-order the sandwich. I told him he could probably get a hot dog later.

In spite of our detour through town, we were still only a couple of blocks from the Circus World Museum. Admission was an annoying $19.95 for adults. Really, can’t they just charge $20 and be done with it? I gave the woman at the front desk $40, and she gave me back a dime. It was a good thing we’d eaten lunch because there was no going out and coming back in.

We stopped at the information desk two steps away to get a map. The lady pointed out where the circus wagons were kept and told us that the next tour was at 1:00.

“Do we have to take the tour?” we asked.

“No, you are welcome to walk around on your own,” she replied.

The building at the entrance has lots of posters and information about the Ringling Brothers as well as some of the other famous circus owners and performers. There was a collection of musical instruments in one room, set up for demonstrations.

Collection of circus musical instruments

I hadn’t thought much about the expression “get on the bandwagon” until I saw the bandwagons.

Bandwagon--not just a figure of speech

The circus had not only bandwagons, luggage wagons, and wagons for animals, but special carriages just for the Grand Pageants, which was the parade through town when the circus arrived. That must have been something to see. Each year had a theme, such as fairy tales or chivalry. In the same room as the bandwagon and musical instruments, there was a fancy carriage for Cinderella.

We were most interested in seeing the collection of over 200 circus wagons. When we got to the giant warehouse where the wagons were stored, it was 12:55, and the tour guide for the 1:00 tour was already talking. He was a very old man who talked very fast and had an annoying habit of asking why and answering himself, e.g, “You will notice that the front wheels are always smaller than the back wheels. Why? Because the smaller wheels in front don’t splatter as much mud.”

Several times, the guide explained that he was giving an abbreviated tour so that everyone could get to the 2:00 magic show in the next building over. Yet, he kept talking and talking, never moving from his spot by the entry way. Why? God knows. I whispered to Terry, “Do you want to just look at the wagons?”

“Yes,” he whispered back, “I don’t think I can listen to this guy another minute”

It wasn’t that we didn’t learn anything. Several of the wagons had real gold leaf. The tour guide gave excruciating detail about the size and thinness of the gold leaf squares and how hard it was to apply them. The difference between the wagons with gold leaf and the wagons with gold paint was remarkable.

Mother Goose in gold leaf

Stereotypes of Asians. A wagon for the peoples of the Americas was in the Wagon Restoration building

Gladiators (gold paint)

"Hippopotamus from River Nile"

A patriotic float

Calliope wagon

One side of the room had two rail cars loaded with circus wagons.

Circus wagons on train cars, which also shows the size of the warehouse

The circus had to move the poles for all of its tents also.

Wagon of tent poles

It occurred to Terry that they would have to move seating as well. One of the wagons, painted with nursery rhymes, explained that originally the wagons were for hauling luggage and were just plain wagons. As the idea of the Grand Pageant into town developed, even the luggage wagons were ornamented and painted with themes.

In the back corner was a human cannon.

Human cannon

The logistics of the circus were mind boggling. It would take an army of woodcarvers and painters to create and maintain the wagons. Many of the woodcarvers came from the shipping industry, which was moving away from wooden sailing ships and into the steam ship age.

Kitchen area of a rail car used for a residents. Not as opulent as the Ringlings' car, the china is not well-secured in velvet

When our feet were tired, we went outside and took a ride on the carousel, which had a genuine North Tonawanda Wurlitzer organ.

The Wurlitzer on the carousel

Terry got his hot dog, which was awful. I went to the ice cream wagon. There was only one price listed for an ice cream cone, and that was $3.50. So I ordered one chocolate cone, even though was more than I wanted to pay and more calories than I wanted to eat (two scoops). Interestingly, the woman working the ice cream stand was a dwarf.

When Terry finished his hot dog, he ordered “a small cone.” And the woman said, “One scoop is $1.75.” And the lesson, apparently, is that you should ignore the menu and order what you want. I paid $1.75 in “reader’s penalty.”

We walked down to the side show tent, which had models of the freak shows of the past. I had to reflect that the changing norms of the modern world had rendered the “fat lady” attraction obsolete.

There was nothing going on at the Big Top until later in the afternoon. Elephant rides were only given briefly before and after the show. We saw some camels lounging in the shade of another tent behind a fence.

The last area we visited was the row of original buildings where the animals were housed during the winter.

Original buildings for overwintering the circus animals

They are slowly being converted to displays. The former elephant building had displays of costumes. Some of the costumes were displayed with the original sketches and cloth samples. Every year was a different show. Every year needed new costumes. Add designers and seamstresses to the army of circus workers.

The year of the Cossacks--they carried May poles instead of flags

Sketch and fabric samples for the Cossack uniforms

Another building had intricate dioramas of the circus through the ages. I don’t recall when they were made, possibly for the 100^th anniversary in 1984. They were donated to the Circus World Museum in 2011 by a woman in New York. Terry and I imagined the conversations between this woman and her children over this collection that had to be taking up a lot of storage space.

On our way home we took a side trip from the main road to visit the Leopold Center. They have done a nice job with their prairie restoration. The main area had displays about Aldo Leopold, passenger pigeons, and the Leopold children, all of whom became notable experts in ecology and/or conservation, even the girls.

Prairie restoration at the Leopold Center

We were too tired to take the one-mile hike back to Leopold’s cabin. We’ll do that another time, maybe when we visit the Crane Foundation.