joe circus
Well-Known Member
This magnificent wagon is the Ringling Bell Wagon.
Ringling went from a horse drawn show to a full on railroad show in 1890, this wagon was produced in 1892 and likely was the first wagon produced especially for Ringling.
Moeller Wagon Works held the order, Centennial Bell Foundry produced the 9 bells that totaled 43,000 pounds. ( Note my model only has 6 ) The amazing carvings were provided by Milwaukee Ornamental Carvings.
The operator road the seat at the rear of the wagon and played ( Al Ringling was rumored to prefer church tunes ) the bells via levers attached to clappers.
While you've read stories here of pretty complicated trails of ownership of some wagons, this is not the case with the Bell Wagon, for 92 years it has remained under Ringling control.
It paraded until about 1912, went into storage ( likely in Baraboo and then in Sarasota ) until 1934. when it did a year with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, which was under Ringling ownership. A year or two afterwards, it was back to Sarasota.
I didn't realized it had so many color schemes ( maybe 9 ) and wheel/tire changes over the years.
The wagon was placed on loan to the Circus World Museum in 1984 by Kenneth Feld, owner of the RBBB, where it enjoyed parade duties and a complete restoration before making its way to Feld's new winterquarters in Ellenton, FL in 2013, which would explain why I didn't get a photo in 2015.
Ringling went from a horse drawn show to a full on railroad show in 1890, this wagon was produced in 1892 and likely was the first wagon produced especially for Ringling.
Moeller Wagon Works held the order, Centennial Bell Foundry produced the 9 bells that totaled 43,000 pounds. ( Note my model only has 6 ) The amazing carvings were provided by Milwaukee Ornamental Carvings.
The operator road the seat at the rear of the wagon and played ( Al Ringling was rumored to prefer church tunes ) the bells via levers attached to clappers.
While you've read stories here of pretty complicated trails of ownership of some wagons, this is not the case with the Bell Wagon, for 92 years it has remained under Ringling control.
It paraded until about 1912, went into storage ( likely in Baraboo and then in Sarasota ) until 1934. when it did a year with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, which was under Ringling ownership. A year or two afterwards, it was back to Sarasota.
I didn't realized it had so many color schemes ( maybe 9 ) and wheel/tire changes over the years.
The wagon was placed on loan to the Circus World Museum in 1984 by Kenneth Feld, owner of the RBBB, where it enjoyed parade duties and a complete restoration before making its way to Feld's new winterquarters in Ellenton, FL in 2013, which would explain why I didn't get a photo in 2015.