BARABOO, Wis. – How often do we really think of the agricultural connection with the circus? Scott O’Donnell, of Circus World in Baraboo, made the statement that the circus was like a moving city, “A town without a ZIP code,” he quipped.

The circus had their own dentist, doctor, veterinarian, priest and more. So, when looked at that way, it makes sense with all the animals and transportation involved that agriculture would take part in the Biggest Show on Earth. With all the array of circus animals, the amount of grain, meat and farm items needed was enormous. “They used to grow crops to support them,” O’Donnell said. With 40 elephants at one time he added, “They needed 350 pounds of food each day.”

In the wagon display at Circus World there are examples of 50-pound bags of oats and more that share the needs of the circus animals used for acts, transport and more.

The father of the Ringling Brothers was August Ringling, a German immigrant and harness maker. August married French immigrant Marie Salomé Juliarco and together the two had seven sons and one daughter. Five brothers ran the shows along with several relatives. They first opened in 1884 as a vaudeville act. Each brother had a different job in the circus.

With Baraboo’s “Ringlingville” serving as the winter headquarters, one of the agricultural tasks was to work on the wagons. The Baraboo firm Moeller & Sons, cousins of the Ringlings, did a lot of the work on the circus wagons for both the Ringling Brothers and the Gollamar circuses. The Gollamars were also cousins of the Ringlings. On display in the wagon restoration area, visitors can see some of the tools used on the wagons. At Circus World, they have the largest collection of circus wagons in the world.

In the circus, there are many different types of wagons. “Free street parades announced the circus was in town and elaborately carved wagons helped to draw audiences to the showgrounds after the parade,” shared a placard in the wagon collection.

Along with the elaborately decorated wagons, many carved by the Moellers, there were also cage wagons that served as transportation, and a home for the animals in the show. You can still see the building where the Moellers worked on the wagons downtown. There was an office wagon, baggage wagons, cookhouse and rolling restrooms. Part of the agricultural story is in the generator wagons providing power for the showgrounds. There was a blacksmith wagon, and more used in the traveling city that was the circus. Some of the tools of the circus included state of the art equipment like a Champion Blower and Forge that was used by large wagon shops for work like shrinking tires and welding axes in the 1910s and 20s.

There is a miniature of the circus that shows all aspects. The horses, wagons and an overview of all the pieces it took to keep this huge operation of 1,400 people moving together. The Ringlings created an art of moving people and machinery. In fact, O’Donnell shared, “The Department of Defense came to study the Ringlings before World War I, and Nazi spies later studied how they moved from place to place before World War II.”

From animal to tractor power, in the wagon display there is a cool exhibit about Caterpillar tractors which they shared was, “The elephant’s only power rival.” The first Caterpillar Tractor affiliation with a circus took place as early as 1926 at the Al G. Barnes-Ring Wild Animal Circus. They used a 5-ton Caterpillar. The circus, O’Donnell shared, was a place where technology was often unveiled. The exhibit “From Horse Power to Horsepower” says it all.

This includes internal combustion engines promoting self-propelled vehicles. When the crawler came on the scene, it made moving machinery easier and safer. In 1938, John Ringling North, a nephew of the original Ringling brothers, transitioned from horses to tractors. Once they started using the railway in 1956, the need for crawlers decreased, although they still came in handy setting up and tearing down.

Many items are not on display, but in the archives. Jennifer Cronk, curator of circus history, shared a behind-the-scenes tour and one item was an array of carving tools for an act of the Vegetable King, who did intricate carvings. The agricultural items vary greatly at this amazing museum from animal blankets to generators. You will have to come and see what you can find and maybe take in a circus act and some cotton candy while you are at it.