44°22′23.78″N 73°13′56.08″W / 44.3732722°N 73.2322444°W / 44.3732722; -73.2322444
31-589: The Circus Building is an exhibit building at Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont . It houses a collection of circus posters, Gustav A. Dentzel Carousel animals, and elaborately carved miniature circuses, including those by Roy Arnold and Edgar Kirk. In the 1950s the Shelburne Museum conceived of the design for the Circus Building, completed in 1965, to meet the requirements of exhibiting
62-421: A lion and a tiger . The figures were finish-carved by Daniel Muller, the most skilled of Dentzel's craftspeople. All the animals are in their original factory paint; this is almost unheard of for carousel figures, because most carousels were repainted frequently as part of routine maintenance. Several of the figures have recently been conserved; layers of discolored, non-original linseed oil were removed to reveal
93-664: A 2005 fire gutted the Bemis block. The town owns the Hardwick Electric Department. The town owns 225 feet (69 m) of shoreline on Caspian Lake in Greensboro . The 2.4 acres (0.97 ha) has been used for recreation since 1927. As a result, they pay taxes to Greensboro on land worth $ 644,000. This was overlooked until 2012. The Vermont State Legislature passed a bill near the end of its 2013 calendar exempting Caspian Lake Public Beach from state taxes,
124-470: A bill which "appears to solve recent questions between Greensboro and Hardwick regarding taxation of the Public Beach." The Hardwick Gazette is a weekly newspaper founded in 1889 that serves Hardwick and nine nearby communities. As of 2016 it has a circulation of about 2,200 and was for sale through an essay contest. While the contest did not receive enough entries, a buyer was found from among
155-504: A household in the town was $ 33,636, and the median income for a family was $ 39,278. Males had a median income of $ 27,188 versus $ 21,732 for females. The per capita income for the town was $ 14,813. About 10.5% of families and 14.0% of the population were below the poverty line , including 16.3% of those under age 18 and 14.2% of those age 65 or over. Several agribusinesses active in and around Hardwick, employing techniques of sustainable agriculture , have added an estimated 75-100 jobs to
186-578: A small, portable machine operates outside the Circus Building, while the animals, chariots and painted panels from a part carousel manufactured by the Gustav Dentzel Company of Philadelphia are exhibited inside the Circus Building. Figures by a number of other manufacturers, both European and American, also are exhibited in the Circus building. The German-born Dentzel opened America's first carousel business in 1867. Dentzel's shop produced
217-458: A treadle-operated jigsaw and completed the carving with an ordinary penknife . Only the nails and paint were specially purchased. The Kirk circus, complete with animal acts, clowns, trapeze artists, bands, side shows and bleachers full of spectators and vendors, is a monument to Kirk's creativity, ingenuity and lifelong passion for the circus. Also in the collection are scale models of a canal boat circus. From 1882 to 1887 residents of ports along
248-514: Is a complete three-ringed folk art circus created by Edgar Decker Kirk (1891-1956) of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania , over a period of 46 years. Kirk, who worked as a brakeman on the Pennsylvania Railroad , began the circus in 1910 when his children were small and continued to work on it long after they were grown, until 1956. Working at night after twelve-hour days with the railroad, Kirk cut the figures for his circus from scrap lumber on
279-565: Is to the north. Lamoille County is to the west, containing the town of Wolcott to the west and Elmore to the southwest. To the south, in Washington County , are the towns of Woodbury and Cabot . According to the United States Census Bureau , Hardwick has a total area of 39.0 square miles (101.1 km ), of which 38.6 square miles (100.0 km ) is land and 0.39 square miles (1.0 km ), or 1.02%,
310-523: Is water. The CDP (town center) of Hardwick has a total area of 1.46 square miles (3.77 km ), of which 1.44 square miles (3.73 km ) is land and 0.015 square miles (0.04 km ), or 1.16%, is water. Hardwick is drained by the Lamoille River and its tributaries, flowing west to Lake Champlain . The highest point in Hardwick is the summit of Jeudevine Mountain in the northern corner of
341-624: The Bayley-Hazen Military Road to provide access into the interior of Vermont. It would prompt the development and settlement of Hardwick and East Hardwick. The town was granted by the Vermont General Assembly on November 7, 1780, then chartered on August 19, 1781, to Danforth Keyes and 66 others, some of whom were from Hardwick, Massachusetts . Permanent settlement began in 1793 when several families named Norris arrived from New Hampshire . By 1859, when
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#1732791768394372-566: The Erie and Oswego canals of central New York state were visited each summer by Sig Sautelle's big shows, one of the only circuses ever to travel by boat. Sautelle, born George Satterlee (1848–1928), was a colorful showman and one of the most successful promoters of his time. The wooden models of Sautelle's two circus canal boats, built by Milo Smith of Herkimer, New York , provide a vivid picture of this unique regional circus. Shelburne Museum Too Many Requests If you report this error to
403-500: The Philadelphia Toboggan Company . Heads and legs were tucked close to the bodies to minimize breakage, and the machines could be easily taken apart, moved, and reassembled. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the circus was an annual event awaited with great anticipation. Weeks before the circus was due to arrive, colorful posters appeared on barns and fences, announcing the dates and new performers. When
434-645: The carousel was invented in Europe, it reached its fullest development in the United States between 1870 and 1930. during this time, elaborate carousels became fixtures of the new city parks built for a public with increasing amounts of leisure time and disposable income. Hundreds of park carousels were built by highly skilled woodcarvers and painters, while an even greater number of smaller, portable carousels were made for use at country fairs and carnivals. Shelburne Museum owns examples of both types of carousels:
465-475: The 500-foot-long (150 m) Roy Arnold miniature circus. Traversing the grand hallway of the large horseshoe-shaped, spruce and cedar structure gives the impression of walking through the entire concourse of a circus parade. Outside, the large boulders that form the building's foundation accentuate the structure's dramatic shape and serve as the backdrop for the Daylily Garden, planted in 2008. Although
496-554: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.226 via cp1108 cp1108, Varnish XID 260083555 Upstream caches: cp1108 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 11:02:48 GMT Hardwick, Vermont Hardwick is a town in Caledonia County , Vermont , United States. The population was 2,920 at the 2020 census . It contains
527-594: The area (through 2008). They operate the Vermont Food Venture Center, a "shared-use kitchen incubator for value-added and specialty food producers." The facility should generate the equivalent of 16 full-time jobs when fully operational. The town contains five places on the National Register of Historic Places : The federal government granted the town $ 492,000 in 2008 to upgrade the water system for fire-fighting purposes after
558-435: The circus arrived, excitement grew as wagons, elephants , and clowns paraded through town. Traveling circuses are represented at the Shelburne Museum by the vintage advertising posters that line the inside wall of the Circus Building. The museum's collection of over five hundred circus posters is among the finest and most comprehensive in the country. It includes many extremely rare, early posters as well as examples from all
589-670: The industry, which was led by the Woodbury Granite Company . Buildings around the country made with Hardwick granite include the Pennsylvania State Capitol , Chicago City Hall , and the 1914 Post Office in Washington, D.C. , as well as numerous city halls and custom houses . The decline of the "architectural granite" industry in the 1920s and 1930s left Hardwick in economic depression. Hardwick Village disincorporated in 1988 and merged with
620-578: The major circuses of the Golden Age of the American traveling circus (ca. 1870-1940), including Barnum and Bailey , Ringling Brothers , Adam Forepaugh , John B. Doris, and the Sells Brothers. The posters are typically brightly colored and attention-grabbing. Most feature dramatic new acts or exotic animals; many make outrageous (and sometimes utterly false) claims – the largest, the smallest,
651-473: The most dangerous, the rarest, the one and only, etc. The museum owns three elaborate carved miniature circuses. The Circus Parade, which runs over 500 feet (150 m) through the circus building, was begun in 1925 by Roy Arnold (1892-1976) of Hardwick, Vermont . Built on a one-inch to one-foot scale, the parade required thirty years to complete. Four other skilled woodcarvers, Harry T. Prior, Charles W. Dech, Milo Smith and Charles Lockier, worked with Arnold on
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#1732791768394682-407: The most realistic and graceful of all carousel animals; his carvers paid enormous attention to anatomical detail, and his painters rendered every nuance of the animals' coloration. Shelburne Museum's Dentzels are from a forty-animal carousel completed about 1902. The three-row machine carried twenty-nine horses and four chariots ; menagerie figures include three giraffes , three goats , three deer ,
713-484: The parade, which features accurate reproductions of wagons used by circuses of the Golden Age. The miniature parade is complemented by exhibits of pony-sized wagons and several life-sized figures originally carved by Samuel Anderson Robb for Barnum and Bailey tableau wagons in the 1890s. Robb is best known for his trade figures, several of which are exhibited in Stagecoach Inn . The Kirk Bros. Miniature Circus
744-512: The population reached 1,402, the town had several sawmills and gristmills on the Lamoille River . There were also two tanneries . Over the years, other industries would include a woolen mill, tinware shop, and carriage factory. The predominant business following the Civil War was granite quarrying , especially after the Portland & Ogdensburg Railway opened service through
775-593: The richly colored and complex paint patterns applied by Dentzel's masterful painters. All forty animals will eventually receive the same professional treatment. The small, portable carousel outside the circus building was made about 1920 by the Allan Herschell Company of North Tonawanda, New York . In 1883 Herschell began producing carousels designed to endure hard wear and frequent travel. The horses were smaller and more compact than those made for permanent park carousels by such companies as Dentzel and
806-483: The town and facilitated shipment of stone. While most of the granite was quarried in nearby Woodbury , the stone was dressed and finished in Hardwick, largely near "Granite Junction", where the rail lines met. The Hardwick and Woodbury Railroad was built to bring granite from the quarries to the finishing shops, and Hardwick became known as the "Building Granite Center of the World". By 1906, 1,200 people were employed in
837-544: The town was 97.89% White , 0.06% African American , 0.82% Native American , 0.09% Asian , 0.19% from other races , and 0.95% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.41% of the population. There were 1,216 households, out of which 37.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.1% were married couples living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.7% were non-families. Of all households, 22.5% were made up of individuals, and 9.0% had someone living alone who
868-437: The town, at 1,831 feet (558 m) above sea level. The town is crossed by Vermont Route 14 , Vermont Route 15 , and Vermont Route 16 . As of the census of 2000, there were 3,174 people, 1,216 households, and 854 families residing in the town. The population density was 82.4 people per square mile (31.8/km ). There were 1,407 housing units at an average density of 36.5 per square mile (14.1/km ). The racial makeup of
899-544: The town. In 2011, the office manager of the municipal electric department was accused of embezzling $ 1.6 million over a period of 12 years. The FBI investigated, and she was charged in federal court and found guilty. Hardwick is the westernmost town in Caledonia County. It is bordered by the Caledonia County towns of Walden and Stannard to the east. The town of Greensboro , in Orleans County ,
930-490: The unincorporated villages of Hardwick , East Hardwick , and Mackville. The town is a commercial center for the region's farming population. The main settlement of Hardwick in the center of the town, formerly an incorporated village, is since 1988 a census-designated place (CDP), with a population of 1,269 at the 2020 census. During the Revolutionary War , General George Washington ordered construction of
961-454: Was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.06. In the town, the population was spread out, with 29.5% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 28.9% from 25 to 44, 22.7% from 45 to 64, and 11.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.3 males. The median income for