The 3-row stationary machine (meaning the animals stand in rows of three, and do not move up and down) was brought to the County Fairgrounds in Burlington, where it was installed in a dodecagonal, or 12-sided, building built especially to provide a home for what many considered an expensive folly.
Forty-six hand-carved wooden animals marched around the 45 -foot diameter platform at a speed of 12 miles per hour, much faster than the 8 mile per hour speed of vertical movement machines. The details of the carving were amazing, and the animals sported real antlers, real horsetails, and sparkling glass eyes. The saddle trappings on the horses were reminiscent of cavalry mounts used in the Napoleonic Wars, and one of the horses wore a full suit of armor. Camels, tigers, lions, a giraffe, a zebra, and a hippocampus, or seahorse, were among the many animals carved and painted in intricate style. Four chariots, each capable of carrying six riders, joined the animals on their roundabout trips, all accompanied by a 1912 Wurlitzer Monster Military Band Organ. The 100-key instrument, replete with a large box of brass and wooden pipes, used a music roll as it created the strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion music for the menagerie that circled it.
Manufactured by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company in 1905, it was the sixth of 89 carousels built by that company between 1904 and 1934. In addition to the artistry of the carvings, the chariots and the panels that enclosed the center housing of the drive machinery featured oil paintings ranging from landscapes to full-length portraits, in styles varying from Post Impressionism to Realism.
In 1931 the Great Depression forced Kit Carson County officials to discontinue the annual fair and during the ensuing years the carousel was neglected. Cornstalks and hay were even stored in the building, and mice, snakes and pigeons were the only riders. In 1937, when the county fair was resumed, the damage to the carousel was extensive. Mice had devastated the band organ, so music was played on phonographs or tape machines for several generations of fairgoers. However, the carousel continued its appointed rounds in a state of disrepair until 1975, when a committee was formed to begin restoration of the historical ride, as a part of the national bicentennial celebration. The old band organ was restored in 1976, followed by restoration of the animals and painted panels. Shortly after the restoration was complete in 1981, four of the animals were stolen. The Kit Carson Carousel Association made the theft known to potential buyers nationwide, and five months later the animals were located in Salina, Kansas.
Today what was once considered a folly has become a valuable asset to Kit Carson County. The carousel has been designated a National Historic Site and has been awarded National Landmark Status. A park with Victorian light fixtures, benches, and an old-fashioned ticket booth surrounds the historic machine, and the fanciful animals carry their riders on a circular trip from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Thanks to the Burlington Library, the Kit Carson Carousel Association, and the Old Town Museum for providing information used in the writing of this story.
For High Plains Public Radio, I’m Debra Bolton in Manhattan, Kansas.
High Plains History is a production of High Plains Public Radio.
