Circus World Museum

• DATE ESTABLISHED: 1959
• SIGNIFICANCE: The Ringling Brothers Circus began in Baraboo in 1884 and continued to use the site for its winter quarters until 1918. The Circus World Museum, opened in 1959, gives visitors the opportunity to examine circus memorabilia as well as to enjoy live circus acts.
• LOCALE: 426 Water Street (State Highway 113) in Baraboo, Wisconsin

Almost seven million people visited the Circus World Museum between 1959 and 1999. The museum is owned by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and operated by the nonprofit Circus World Museum Foundation. It is recognized worldwide for its unrivaled collection of circus wagons, its educational programs, and its archival collection devoted to the history of the American circus. Designated a National Historic Landmark, the Museum preserves eight buildings and barns that once were a part of the original quarters.

Beginning of the Ringling Brothers Circus

Albrecht (Al) Ringling was the oldest son of a German immigrant who operated a modest harness shop in the small community of Baraboo. After Ringling observed a circus in his youth, he and four of his brothers began giving amateur performances for the local citizens, and he obtained a job traveling as a juggler and a rope walker. A person with strength and agility, Ringling’s specialty was the innovative balancing of a heavy plow over his head. In 1882, he and his four brothers organized a variety show, the Carnival of Fun, which toured the small towns of the Midwest.

In 1884, the brothers joined Yankee Robinson, a retired circus operator, to establish a small circus with a tent holding six hundred people. On May 19, the troupe gave its first show in Baraboo. They had twenty-one performers, including Al Ringling’s wife, a snake charmer. Their summer tour of southern Wisconsin was moderately successful. Each year, the performances became more extensive and more spectacular. The purchase of their first elephant in 1888 was a milestone. By 1890, they were operating a railroad train of eighteen cars. The following year, they expanded from one ring to three rings and took the name The Ringling Brothers World’s Greatest Shows.

Growth and Departure from Baraboo

By the turn of the century, the circus was giving shows primarily in the larger cities of North America, and it no longer played in Baraboo. Its only serious rival was Barnum & Bailey. After James Bailey died, the Panic of 1907 forced his widow to sell the circus to the Ringling Brothers for $41,000. For the next decade, the brothers ran the two shows separately. The Barnum & Bailey Circus had its winter quarters in Bridgeport, Connecticut, while the Ringling Brothers Circus continued to have winter quarters in Baraboo. With its many animal shelters along the Baraboo River, the circus was one of the region's largest employers.

By the early 1900s, the brothers were quite wealthy and owned large houses in Baraboo. Al Ringling continued to be devoted to the city, but his younger brothers preferred to spend most of the winter in Florida. Ringling built an opera house, which he intended to donate to Baraboo. In 1916, however, he died before signing the will, and his brothers decided not to make the gift.

In 1918, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey merged into a single operation, which they called “The Greatest Show on Earth.” This was terrible news for the community of Baraboo because the brothers decided to make their winter quarters in Connecticut. Nine years later, the great circus moved from Connecticut to Florida. For its fiftieth anniversary in 1933, the circus held a performance in Baraboo, the first such performance in almost forty years. By this time, all the brothers but one had died.

The Museum

By the 1950s, circus shows were becoming much less common than before. John Kelley, an attorney for the Ringlings, had the idea of establishing a location to preserve as much of the past as possible. He suggested that the most logical location was Baraboo. The city, local organizations, and the state historical society enthusiastically supported the idea. In 1959, the Circus World Museum held its grand opening. Since then, the museum has assembled the world’s most extensive collection of antique circus wagons, including many that cannot be seen anywhere else.

In 1965, the Robert L. Parkinson Library and Research Center was added to preserve the paper, photographic, and sound materials donated to the museum. The library's mission is to collect, preserve, and interpret circus history. Its holdings have grown to more than fifty thousand photographs, eight thousand posters, three thousand books, six hundred films, and thousands of other items related to the history of the American circus. The professional staff includes an archivist and a curator of artifacts. The library is free and open to the public for the entire year.

Also in the late 1960s, the museum erected the Moeller Hippodrome to present live circus performances. In 1972, these were expanded to include big-top performances with international award-winning casts. In 1985, the museum presented its first magic show, and visitors were first allowed to observe circus wagon restoration in 1998. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the museum saw over 100,000 annual visitors, most during the peak summer season. Following the pandemic, in the 2020s, the museum welcomed between 50,000 and 70,000 visitors annually. 

The Circus World Museum offers visitors a glimpse into a unique part of American history and cultural tradition. The museum's vast and original collections provide visitors with a walk through American entertainment history, and the effort to preserve, educate, and showcase these artifacts is also on display. The live shows at the Circus World Museum continue to thrill generations of viewers. Finally, the Circus World Museum is vital to the Baraboo community and economy and brings tourists to the south central Wisconsin area. 

Bibliography

Conover, Richard. The Circus:Wisconsin’s Unique Heritage. Baraboo, Wis.: Circus World Museum, 1967.

Eckley, Wilton. The American Circus. Boston: Twayne, 1984.

"History of Circus World." Circus World, 2024, circusworld.wisconsinhistory.org/explore/history-of-circus-world. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.

Jansen, Dean. The Biggest, the Smallest, the Longest, the Shortest: A Chronicle of the American Circus from Its Heartland. Madison: Wisconsin House, 1975.

May, Earl Chapin. Circus: From Rome to Ringling. New York: Dover, 1963.

North, Henry Ringling, and Alden Hatch. The Circus Kings: Our Ringling Family Story. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1960.

Plowden, Gene. Those Amazing Ringlings and Their Circus. Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers, 1967.