A Ringling secret remains in Baraboo

BARABOO, Wis. (AP) — Joe Colossa is eager to show off the Al. Ringling Mansion.

Its four floors and 40 rooms have seven fireplaces, 14 chandeliers and 67 original stained-glass windows.

A cabinet holds a full tea and china set from the Ringlings, cue sticks used by the famed circus family to play snooker still hang in the billiard room, and furniture from Ringling homes around the country are on display. There’s a roll-top desk used by Charles Ringling, Alf T. Ringling’s dining-room table and an old sewing box that was turned into a ticket box when Al., as a child, decided to set up his own circus with a few of his brothers....

....To aid in the construction of the brew pub, the city of Baraboo has received a $54,700 Community Development Investment Grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.