Wisconsin Quilts by Ellen Kort

Author:Ellen Kort
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2008-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Quilt maker Letitia Finn, Evansville, early 1890s. (Photo courtesy of Nancy Norgord.)

Roman Stripe (Shadows)

In 1906, when the five Ringling brothers created the world’s most spectacular circus, they chose their hometown of Baraboo, Wisconsin, as its summer quarters. In the winter, the great Ringling showmen loaded their equipment and animals—including huge elephants and dancing bears—on a train and traveled from Baraboo throughout the country to perform and entertain. Watching the animals parade to the train station to be loaded one by one was an exciting event that inspired many a child to dream of becoming a ringmaster or trapeze artist.

It was not surprising that the five brothers—Al, Otto, John, Alf, and Charley—started their own circus. As young boys, they gave variety shows in their backyard and advertised them by parading up and down the streets in a goat cart. In 1882, along with his brothers, Al organized the Ringling Bros. Classic Comic and Concert Company. They changed the theme to “circus and caravan” when they added a bear, a monkey, an eagle, a hyena, a kangaroo, a pair of lions, and two elephants. By 1892 they had unseated the nation’s leading circus, Barnum and Bailey, which they eventually bought. The circuses merged in 1917 and moved to Florida. Baraboo is now home to the Circus World Museum, which is operated by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.6

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