The Circus World Museum

"The circus is the only ageless delight you can buy for money."
-Ernest Hemingway

Northwest of Madison, in Baraboo, is the Circus World Museum. It was highly recommended by some Wisconsians we met in Dubuque, Iowa a few months ago. The museum is a huge collection of circus paraphernalia, and does an excellent job of educating visitors on the history of the circus. There was so much to learn (like the fact that the first circus in America was performed in Philadelphia in 1793), it would be impossible to convey it all here. So here are some highlights...

The museum is on the grounds of the old winter quarters for the Ringling Brothers Circus, founded in 1884. During the summer, the museum holds outdoor activities and performances. Unfortunately we arrived after the season was over, but there was still lots to see - with about 30 permanent structures, original wagons (from American, English, and Irish circuses), posters, costumes, hand bills, and more.

A group of character-topped garbage cans stowed away for the season.

One of the thousands of posters in the museum.

The museum housed hundreds of elaborate costumes and sets. I sometimes thought we were in Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World!

Former Baggage Horse Barn

Former Animal House

Circus Stock Car #349

• Traveled with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for 30+ years.
• 72 feet long; carried 30 performing horses.

Circuses often brought elaborately decorated horse-drawn carriages with them to use in the lavish street parades used to bring business to their show. The Circus World Museum has the world's largest collection of these show vehicles (over 200), and a workshop to carefully research and restore the carriages to their original condition.

The hodgepodge of train cars and elaborate parade carts were tucked in every nook and cranny of the building. Some carts were restored to their original beauty, while others were awaiting their makeovers. It was an endless discovery of history on wheels!

The two photographs below are of the Band Organ. It was built in Paris, France in 1905 and brought to the U.S. in 1910 for a Kansas carnival company. For over 40 years, the organ was stored in a Kansas barn, waiting to be found. Luckily, it was found and restored for the 1956 Royal American Shows.

It weighs 6 tons and can produce the sound of an 80 piece band with its 367 wooden and metal pipes, two drums, a cymbal and a 17 bar glockenspiel. To read about what the heck a glockenspiel is, read here.

Norris & Rowe Circus was based out of California, and began as a dog and pony show. It grew to a 23 car railroad circus, but couldn't afford the street parades of their competitors, and it closed in 1910. The Circus World Museum has the Norris & Rowe Bandwagon #22, known as Tally-Ho #22.

It is 11 feet, 7 inches long; 6 feet, 2 inches wide; 7 feet high; and weighs 1200 pounds.

A model train displaying the numerous cars needed to transport the circus.

Another fascinating part of the museum was this model of the circus. (Please pardon the unusual quality of the photos. The model is behind glass and the lighting is poor.)

The model's plaque reads:

The purpose of this display is to show the railroad circus of recent decades. They are now gone from the American scene, replaced by truck circuses, although smaller in size, are presenting wonderful performances.

As you look at this miniature circus it is difficult to comprehend that shows of this size moved from town to town on daily schedules, made up of 1000 or more people, hundreds of horses, elephants and wild animals, traveling 12-15,000 miles all over the country in one season.

It was designed and built by John Zweifel of Evanston, Illinois. He has been building circus models since he was 6 years old. This model took over 8 years to build and has over 30,000 pieces. While the animated parts were not operable during our visit, there are over 40 electric motors and a system of gear reduction. By the way, the exhibit is valued at over a quarter of a million dollars.

Read more fun facts about the model here.

Did you know that there are 3 types of clowns?

1. CHARACTER - grew out of the carpet clown now often seen as the tramp or hobo clown, which might be the only indigenous American clown. The character clown makes fun of different features of the human face such as beards, whiskers, warts, large noses, bald heads and strange haircuts. The tramp clown owes much of his inspiration to Charlie Chaplin's "Little Tramp."
   
2. WHITEFACE - the oldest clown. All white, including the neck and ears, the facial features (eyebrows, nose and mouth) are painted on in black, red or blue. If their painted features are of a natural size, they are called "neat" whiteface. If their features are oversized or exaggerated, the clowns are called "grotesque" whiteface.
3. AUGUSTE - stumbles, performs pratfalls, slaps and gets slapped and is the butt of all jokes and is known as the comic of comics. Pronounced "oh Goost" they are recognized by their oversized shoes, bulbous red nose, wigs of bright colors, and mismatched, oversized clothing. The Auguste may leave most of his natural skin color showing or use a pink or red base instead of white. Their features are painted on in black and red. His lower lip and eyes may be outlined in white to exaggerate facial expressions.

James Coffey - The Skinniest Man
He was of average height, but never weighed more than 70 lbs.

Jane Campbell - The World's Fattest Lady
Also called "the Connecticut Giantess."
She weighed 628 pounds when she was 18, and got paid weekly at 50 cents per pound.

We had a great time!

"Mad-Town," Wisconsin

After two days crossing Minnesota, we arrived in the pleasant capitol of Madison, Wisconsin. Our landing pad was a hostel on Butler Street, which made for an easy walk into downtown and the capitol building.

The weather is gorgeous today, and the hundreds of people out walkig prove that the area residents are enjoying it just as much as we are. There are cyclists EVERYWHERE and at least one bike shop for every 10th person! This is a college town with a fun and funky youthful vibe in the streets, and we have fallen in love with "Mad-town."


Down the street from the hostel is a restaurant called The Bayou - serving authentic Louisiana food. We know we should be trying local Wisconsin grub, but we just couldn't pass up a GOOD plate of red beans and rice! And it WAS good.

We experienced the Wednesday Farmer's Market - it too was packed with pumpkins, squash, and homemade soups and pasteries. We also found some incredible local coffee shops and ice cream parlors serving up Wisconsin-made treats. All very dangerous (but tasty) territory for us!


We spent an entire day in and around the capitol building. Some facts:

Wisconsin became a territory in 1836, and the legislature met in Belmont, Iowa, which was a part of the Wisconsin Territory. And in 1838, the legislature met in Madison for the first time. We saw a copy of Wisconsin's constitution; date of statehood: May 29, 1848.


Like many capitols across this country, Wisconsin has been through a few buildings, three to be exact.

• The first one was torn down in 1863 because it was too small.
• The second capitol burned in February 1904.
• And construction on the third (and current) capitol building began in 1906 over the second capitol building. It was completed in 1917 for total cost of $7.25 million.

The tour brochure says Madison's capitol is 284.4 feet tall (from ground to the top of statue on top), and claims to be taller than our nation's capitol. However, our nation's capitol website says that "its height above the base line on the east front to the top of the Statue of Freedom is 288 feet." While Madison might not be able to claim its capitol is taller than the nation's capitol, it can claim that its capitol's dome is one of the largest in the world by volume. And it is an impressive one!


The statue on the dome of the capitol building is named "Wisconsin" and it represents Wisconsin's state motto "Forward." She holds a globe and eagle in her left hand, and wears a small "W" on her chest. And there are four mosaics in the capitol, each made of more than 100,000 glass tiles.


Wisconsin is known as "The Badger State," and adoringly claims the badger as its state animal. He is prominently placed above four main doorways within the capitol building (two of them being above the senate and house chambers). So why the badger? Well, in the 1830's, miners lived in holes dug into the hillsides, and so they were called "badger." Doesn't it make you want to sing the animated "Badger, badger, badger" song sent across the world wide web a few years back? If you don't remember it, click here for a refresher.



We were excited to tour the capitol after the extensive renovation project that started in 1988 and completed in 2002. They removed 1960-70 paneling and dropped ceilings used to modify the building, and returned the capitol to its original design. It is a beauty - one of the prettiest state capitol buildings we've seen so far.

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Goodbye bikes, farewell old friends!

With a bit of hesitation, we have shipped our bikes back to Louisiana. However, the chill in the air is reassurance that we won't be needing them this winter. But that has not stopped old habits. When a sharp turn appears, we still remind each other about the bikes on the roof, and we still check the clearance heights on overpasses and railroad bridges and jokingly ask "Heehee - Do you think we'll make it?" One thing has changed, though... we removed the "Bikes on Roof!" sticky-note on our rear view mirror.

Sioux Falls, South Dakota & Iowa's Effigy Mounds

We were grateful to be in Sioux Falls on a Saturday so we could experience their popular Farmer's Market. It is October, so the ground is covered in pumpkins and the tables are full of zucchini and squash. We stopped by the coffee vendor, Cherry Bean Coffee Co., to fill our tumblers. Reed, the owner, shared with us his experience living in Everette, Washington. I must say, the more we travel, the smaller and bigger the world seems, all at the same time.

The day was overcast, and we managed to view the area before the sky opened up. Whew!



Falls Park is scattered with Quartzite, the natural stone locally called Sioux Quartzite or Jasper. The park is also rich with evidence of past business attempts.

The most prominent structures are from the Queen Bee Mill, built in 1881 of Quartzite quarried from the site. A millrace and dam were also constructed as a power source for the mill. The Queen Bee Mill was the most advanced mill in America at the time, and it had hopes of producing 1200 barrels of flour a day. Unfortunately, with too little wheat and often too little water, the mill closed operations in 1883.

The Turbine House perched along the edge of the falls.

In the photo above, I am standing near the old foundation of the Gate House, which controlled the flow of water to the mill. The stone stands below held the pipe that pumped water from the Gate House to the Turbine House.

Remnants of the 7-story building of the Queen Bee Mill

Behind an iron fence are the remnants of the 7-story building that housed milling machinery for the Queen Bee Mill. It burned in 1956, leaving the stone base.

Hydroelectric Plant Building

Sioux Falls Light & Power hydroelectric plant (later called the Northern States Power, or NSP) began operations at the old Queen Bee Mill site in 1908, housing three 500-kilowatt generators. Today, the old plant is a modern cafe frequented by locals and tourists.



Probably the most surprising discovery while we were in Falls Park was the existance of an island, Seney Island, in the center of the park. It began to disappear in 1907 when the hydroelectric plant was built. A bigger dam was built and the area around the island was closed off for more water power. Later, the Milwaukee Railroad bought the island, cut down trees, and filled in the channels around the island to connect the banks of the river. Bummer. It is still an enchanting park, though.

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After a night at Wyalusing State Park (about 500 feet above the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers - what a view!), we woke up to an extremely foggy morning with a drippy tent and that little bite of cold in the air. Walking around the park that morning (mainly to warm up), we spotted some of our first effigy mounds. We decided, before heading east to Madison, to cross into Iowa to visit Effigy Mounds National Monument and learn more about these historic piles of dirt.



The park has 206 known mounds, with 31 in the shape of animals (bears and birds). To give you an idea of size, the animal shapes are about 3 to 4 fee high and 212 feet long. The American Indians created these mounds between 850 and 1400 years ago. The reason for the mounds is uncertain, as well as why they stopped building them. Maybe they were religious sites, clan symbols, a connection to the spirit world? Some of the mounds are indeed burial sites containing human remains.

While there are large collections of effigy mounds throughout the Midwest, many were unknowingly logged or plowed and turned into farmland. Surveys of northeastern Iowa (1800-1900's) showed over 10,000 mounds. Within 100 years, less than 1,000 survived.


There are 4 known shapes: animal, conical, linear, and compound.

• Conical are the oldest and most numerous, dating back 2500 years
• Linear mounds were built between 1700 and 1300 years ago
• Compound mounds are a combination of conical and linear mounds, and are only found in the Effigy Mounds region (includes northeastern Iowa, southern Wisconsin, northern Illinois, and southeastern Minnesota).
• Animal mounds are obviously those built in the shape of animals, mostly bears and birds.

We thought the mounds were best viewed and most appreciated for their scale from the air. Unfortunately, there are only hiking trails to the mounds, so close-up views were our only option. We did a short hike from the visitor's center to view the three conical mounds, then headed for Madison.