Highlights Archives
New Life for Historic Ringling Train Shed
The Wisconsin State Building Commission has approved expenditure of $1.315 million to complete the rehabilitation of the historic Ringling Train Shed at Circus World Museum in Baraboo. The nearly 600-foot-long frame building — the only structure of its kind in the world — is one of nine buildings at Circus World that comprise the Ringling Bros. Circus Winter Quarters National Historic Landmark. The project will include replacement of the building's 290 windows, replacement of the tracks inside and outside the building, fire protection and electrical work, and replacement of the building's gravel floor.
 This view shows only half of the cavernous interior of the train shed. The train shed commemorates the role of transportation in the development of the American circus. The shed, which housed the train cars of the original Ringling Bros. traveling circus, provides protection for Circus World's railroad cars and some of the museum's vast collection of antique circus wagons. Work on the project is expected to begin in March 2007, with an anticipated completion date of June 2008. Upon completion, the state could be reimbursed up to $250,000 of the project cost as a result of a previously announced federal "transportation enhancement" grant. The grants fund a variety of transportation-related projects including improvements to transportation-related structures, such as the Ringling Train Shed.
The Wisconsin Historical Society owns Circus World Museum and its world-class collections of circus artifacts. The nonprofit Circus World Museum Foundation operates the site independently under a lease-management agreement with the Historical Society.
The Ringling Bros. began their circus in Baraboo in 1884. By 1907 their show had grown to become the largest circus empire in the United States, requiring 44 train cars to transport their circus wagons and menagerie of exotic animals nationwide. By 1919 the brothers had acquired other circuses and were doing business as the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. In the years that followed, the combined show toured the nation, entertaining millions of people each year, but in 1956 "The Greatest Show on Earth" abandoned its traveling Big Top show in favor of indoor venues, ending a longstanding tradition begun by Baraboo's Ringling Bros.
:: Posted December 13, 2006
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