Baraboo's Al. Ringling Mansion is a museum to the legendary circus family

Joe Colossa's roots in the circus world go back four generations. He stayed with the family calling, eventually working as the train master for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for 14 years.

“It was quite a process, unloading and then loading everything — including animals, wagons, 400 people and all the gear — from a mile-long train before and after every week of shows,” he said. “It was pretty stressful and I wouldn’t have done it for so long if I hadn’t loved it.”

When Colossa was 8 years old, he became fascinated with the Ringling family. They were kings of the entertainment world for decades around the turn of the 20th century, when the arrival of the circus was the biggest thing to hit some cities each year.

Still, it was something of a leap for the 48-year-old Connecticut native and his Paraguayan-born wife, Carmen, to move to Baraboo five years ago to begin restoration of the 18,000-square-foot Al. (Albert) Ringling Mansion, which has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976.

But that’s exactly what the couple, backed by partner and good friend Don Horowitz, did in 2013. Since then, they’ve been slowly renovating the red stone Romanesque Revival structure while offering tours and hosting weddings, banquets and receptions in the grand home on Broadway St., just a block from downtown Baraboo.

Al. Ringling, the oldest of seven brothers, began building the massive dwelling in 1905, when Baraboo had a population of about 6,000 and was the winter home of the circus and all of its animals at a staging area covering 14 acres. Roughly 12,000 people now call Baraboo home.

Colossa said Ringling and his wife, Lou — a former snake charmer — had lived on the Broadway St. site since 1899 in a 3,000-square-foot Queen Anne Victorian.

But several of Al.’s brothers, who were also involved in the highly successful circus, began constructing bigger and fancier homes. Not far from the red-stone AL. Ringling Mansion is the canary yellow Charles Ringling home, now a seven-bedroom B&B. The siblings’ lavish houses were a far cry from the modest Baraboo cabin where several of the Ringling children were born to harness maker August Ringling and his wife Salome in the mid-1800s.

With the Ringling Bros. circus at its peak, Al. and Lou went all out and quadrupled the size of their original home. They lived in it for another 11 years, hosting grand dinners and parties. After Al. died in 1916 at age 63, Lou moved to Crystal Lake, Ill., and Ida Ringling, Al.’s only sister, took up residence for another 16 years.

When she moved out, it became an Elks Lodge, Colossa said. And in 1948, the Elks built a 300-person ballroom and six-lane bowling alley (which still functions) at the rear of the mansion, adding another 6,000 square feet.

Colossa said he learned the house was for sale about six years ago from a friend who lived in Baraboo and thought that after 14 years of living on a train, Colossa might want to buy it, turn it into a museum and settle down.

“My first thought was that I didn’t want to move to Baraboo because I’m not from here,” he said during a recent interview at the mansion. “But a year or so later, another friend mentioned the same thing. So my wife said maybe someone was trying to tell us something."

They made the trip to Baraboo to look at the the mansion. They were immediately smitten.

“We fell in love with the Al. Ringling home,” Carmen Colossa said. “But we figured the Elks wouldn’t want to sell it and anyway, we didn’t have the money to buy it. When we went home and back to the circus, though, all we could think about was this house.”

So Colossa contacted the Elks, who were considering selling the mansion because of declining membership. Two years of negotiations later, the Colossas — with the backing of Horowitz — bought the mansion for $250,000 and moved into the servants quarters.

“The price was quite reasonable, but it will cost more than $1 million to restore it by the time we’re finished,” he said. That money is coming from Horowitz, the Colossas, tours, weddings and, they hope, the recently formed Friends of the Al. Ringling Mansion, a nonprofit. The first two years, about 1,000 people visited the house annually. But last year, that figure climbed to 5,000 and brought in nearly $100,000 at $20 per adult and $5 for children.

“We’re desperately trying to get the house restored and to a point where it’s not leaking and damaged any further,” Colossa said. “And so far, so good. The community has been very supportive. We’ve found great craftsmen and women to work on the mansion.”

When I walked around the home with Colossa recently, he showed me the ladies parlor, complete with some of Lou Ringling’s original furniture and an unusual, 1866 square Knabe grand piano — all lent by Ringling heirs.

On the opposite side of the entryway is Al.’s library and office, complete with brother Charles’ roll-top desk and chair. Colossa said the den is where the men retired after dinner to smoke cigars and discuss business.

A large photograph of all eight siblings and their mother, Marie, hangs on one wall. He said Marie, a serious Lutheran, had a strong influence on her sons. So much so that they earned the nickname the “Sunday School Boys” because of their mother’s orders that they keep their circus clean. Dating was not allowed among circus employees. In fact, Colossa noted, even married couples were prohibited from sleeping together.

The once elaborate dining room, which the Elks converted into a bar, is now being restored to its original use. During my visit, artist Karolin Boaz was on scaffolding repainting stencils. Master craftsman Lyle Failes was replacing a fireplace that was covered, plus cabinetry, moulding and other millwork.

The first floor also has a billiards room and a second entryway known as a porte cochère, where the Ringlings would have descended from their horse-drawn carriage to enter the mansion — until they switched to automobiles in 1912.

A grand staircase, complete with a small conservatory for plants on the landing between the two floors, leads to a large parlor surrounded by four bedrooms. The Ringlings — who reportedly had a tumultuous marriage and at one point filed for divorce — slept in separate rooms, but Colossa said it was not uncommon for the wealthy at that time.

He said he hopes to convert the mansion to a B&B in the spring, while continuing to offer tours. Also in the works is a plan to turn the ballroom at the back of the house into a brewpub, where they’ll serve a beer created for the Ringlings more than a century ago.

“The Ringlings weren’t my family, but over time I’ve come to feel like they are,” Colossa said. “I’ve gotten to know a lot of their descendants and I think they appreciate what we’re doing. And this will never really be our house, it will always be the Al. Ringling Mansion.”

More information: Guided tours of the mansion are offered year-round, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily (last tour at 3 p.m.) April 1-Oct. 31 and by appointment Nov. 1-March 31. They cost $20 for adults, $5 for kids ages 5 to 11 and are free for kids 4 and under.

See alringlingmansion.com or call (608) 448-7445.

Getting there: The Al. Ringling Mansion, 623 Broadway St., is 116 miles west of Milwaukee via Interstates 94, 90 and Highway 33.