Joy
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
John Ringling Circus Museum
The history of the circus can be traced back to ancient Roman times with the chariot races and exotic animal battles held in an open air circular arena. The Ringling brothers grew their small group of traveling entertainers into one of the largest circus companies in America during the late 1800's and early 1900's.
Also housed in the circus museum is a train car in which the Ringling's traveled from show to show. I was most impressed with the wood carvings. The attention paid to every detail of the show is inspiring.
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John Ringling’s First Private Railway Car
ReplyDeleteThe Wisconsin
John Ringling owned a private railroad observation passenger car and used it from 1905 until 1917 to travel with his circus, conduct business trips in and to take vacations with. It was built by the George Mortimer Pullman Company in Pullman, Illinois. It was made of wood. It weighed 65 tons, was 79 feet long, 14 feet tall and 10 feet wide. It cost $11,325.23, this was only about half the price of a comparable Pullman car of the time, because it was outfitted with walls taken from other railroad cars. John Ringling was the youngest person in the country to own his own private rail car. He named it for his home state of Wisconsin, and because that is where his circus was quartered. John and his wife, Mable, traveled in the car on their honeymoon. When the Wisconsin traveled with the circus train, it was usually placed in the middle of the consist.
The car was divided into an observation room, three staterooms, dining room, kitchen, bathroom and servants’ quarters. It was richly furnished and boasted an interior of mahogany and other woods, intricate moldings, gold-leaf stencils and stained glass throughout. The 10-foot high ceilings were painted Viva Gold, Baize Green and Fiery Brown. There were toilets in each compartment. John and Mable Ringling had a private bathroom, including a tub. The rear compartment of car was the observation room, which could be used as a lounge or as an office. At this rear end of the car was an observation platform. All the rooms got extra daylight from a clerestory of opalescent glass.
When New York City, where the Ringling Circus opened its season each year, banned wooden cars from the city’s tunnels, John Ringling decided to sell the Wisconsin. Later, the car was purchased by the Norfolk Southern Railroad, which renamed it the Virginia, it used it as a business car for its railroad officials. Then it was sold to the Atlantic & East Carolina Railway, which adapted it into a fishing lodge, renamed it the Carolina and placed it in Morehead City, North Carolina. Tracked down by circus enthusiast Howard Tibbals in 1985, it was acquired by the North Carolina Transportation Museum which kept it in covered storage on its grounds in Spencer. A $417,240 federal grant awarded to the Florida Department of Transportation helped pay for restoration of the Wisconsin's exterior, carried out by the Edwards Rail Car Co. in Montgomery, Ala. The next stop for the railcar was The John and Mable Ringling Museum in Sarasota Florida. An anonymous donation of $100,000 then brought the Wisconsin's interiors back to their Gilded Age sheen, work which was done right at the Ringling Museum. The Sarasota County Parks and Recreation Department donated railroad tracks for the train car to rest on. The tracks became available as part of the Rails to Trails project. The rails were laid by volunteers from the Florida Railroad Museum located in Parrish, Florida. Instead of actually entering the car, visitors to the display at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art now walk along a raised handicap accessible platform and view into the Wisconsin's windows to admire the restored elegance of yesterday brought back to life so vividly.
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