August Ringling's Shop
One of the circus world’s best-known families lived in Stillwater for a time in the 1870s.
In the 1870s August Ringling, the father of the famous Ringling brothers, moved to Stillwater and set up a carriage trimming business. His business was located on North Second Street just "two buildings north of the Sawyer House" (now the site of the Lowell Inn) and in front of the carriage painting rooms of LaVoie & Kane.
An August 20, 1875 advertisement in the Stillwater Messenger, Ringling claims of “having had nearly 35 years experience in the principal cities of Germany and America. I am confident of being able to please the most fastidious both in regard to style and prices.” Another note in the Messenger said that “specimens of his skill may be seen at the warerooms of Z. Foss.”
The brothers found one of their earliest circus jobs in 1875, when the Yankee Robinson Circus came to Stillwater and performed on Carli’s Field. Alfred Ringling later recalled:
It was back in 1857, or ’75, I’ve forgotten which, when I lived in Stillwater, Minn., with my four brothers, that the Yankee Robinson Circus came to town. I carried water all day for their stock, including two elephants. Then I marched in the parade and when it came time for the show the man who had hired me told me he would “sic” the lions on me if I didn’t get off the grounds.
I got in, just the same, by crawling under the canvas, and it was a pretty good show. Twenty years later my four brothers and I were in partnership with Robinson; one day we got to talking about the “conscience fund.” I happened to mention to Robinson that I had seen his show once and not paid to get in, so I handed him over a quarter. He said it showed I had some conscience left.
“Yankee,” I said, “that has been troubling me ever since I was a boy. You always pay your debts, don’t you?”
He said he did, so I handed him a bill for seven hours’ work at twenty center an hour, which was the wage scale in Minnesota when I saw his show. “Yankee” was a little put out, but I took the money out of his share of the profits—and five per cent interest, too. (Mirror, June 3, 1909)
The Ringling family only lived in Stillwater for about 18 months before moving to Rice Lake, Wisconsin and then to Baraboo, Wisconsin where the Circus World Museum is now located. The family spent enough time in Stillwater to create life-long friends, and when they would return to the area many would go and see the show.
The performing brothers did come back to Stillwater with the Greatest Show on Earth several times, the first being on August 18, 1890. Despite the rain, the attendance was more than expected. The show was under big circus tents pitched at the corner of Burlington and Sixth Avenue South, now the Old Athletic Field. The Ringlings returned two years later, with great fanfare again.
On a trip to St. Paul with the circus in 1917, John Ringling, the youngest of the brothers spoke to the Stillwater Messenger saying that “we boys lived in Stillwater for a year and a half. Of course that was a long time ago, but I remember the good times I used to have on the logs in the river. Those were great days.”
— Brent Peterson
Brent Peterson is Executive Director of the Washington County Historical Society.