Monday August 17th, 2009. Spring Green, WI. 30 miles. Grass. Warm. Heavy rains.
Yesterday’s town, Richland Center was the birthplace and boyhood home of Frank Lloyd Wright – but today’s town is where Wright design genius saw it’s fullest expression in his “prairie houses.” For any fan of architecture this is a treat.
If the traditional American circus was born in the Hudson River Valley of New York in places like Somers, and if the “golden age” of the rail shows can trace its roots to Peru, Indiana, it has to be said that no part of the country breaths circus history quite like Wisconsin. I the years after the War Between the States as many as two dozen wagon shows wintered in places like Delevan, WI. And legendary circus manager W.C. Coup came out of WI to put the Barnum show on the rails. The Gollmars, George Hall, Wayne Franzen the list of circus greats Wisconsin bred is a long one. But mostly when we think circus and WI what we’re remembering is Baraboo – the town where the Ringling Brothers built and operated the second greatest show on earth, after James Bailey’s circus holding. When the Ringlings later acquired Bailey’s Barnum show they left Baraboo behind and gave America the circus that it knows and loves the best. We’re thirty five miles from that “mecca” today – still home to many circus fans and performers. Wisconsin can blow hot or cold when it comes to filling the seats, but it’s always a pleasure to be here.
Yesterday’s town, Richland Center was the birthplace and boyhood home of Frank Lloyd Wright – but today’s town is where Wright design genius saw it’s fullest expression in his “prairie houses.” For any fan of architecture this is a treat.
If the traditional American circus was born in the Hudson River Valley of New York in places like Somers, and if the “golden age” of the rail shows can trace its roots to Peru, Indiana, it has to be said that no part of the country breaths circus history quite like Wisconsin. I the years after the War Between the States as many as two dozen wagon shows wintered in places like Delevan, WI. And legendary circus manager W.C. Coup came out of WI to put the Barnum show on the rails. The Gollmars, George Hall, Wayne Franzen the list of circus greats Wisconsin bred is a long one. But mostly when we think circus and WI what we’re remembering is Baraboo – the town where the Ringling Brothers built and operated the second greatest show on earth, after James Bailey’s circus holding. When the Ringlings later acquired Bailey’s Barnum show they left Baraboo behind and gave America the circus that it knows and loves the best. We’re thirty five miles from that “mecca” today – still home to many circus fans and performers. Wisconsin can blow hot or cold when it comes to filling the seats, but it’s always a pleasure to be here.
