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Baraboo is a city in Sauk County, Wisconsin, along the Baraboo River. The population was 10,780 at the time of the 2000 census. The city is located mostly within the Town of Baraboo.
Baraboo is home to Circus World Museum, the former headquarters and winter home of the Ringling Brothers circus and now the largest library of circus information in the US. This living museum has one of the foremost collections of circus carts, and hosts an annual parade of these artifacts through the streets of Baraboo every summer.
The Al Ringling Theater is an active landmark of the city's rich cultural history. This grand scale movie palace is larger and more elaborate than one would normally find in a town the size of Baraboo, owing to the financial assistance of the Ringling family. The Al Ringling home still exists and is kept in good condition.
Baraboo is also home to the International Crane Foundation, the world's foremost organization dedicated to the study and conservation of the world's 15 species of crane. The Leopold Reserve is also within the Baraboo vicinity.
Belle Case La Follette was born near Baraboo.
Together with surrounding communities (including West Baraboo and the Town of Baraboo), the Baraboo micropolitan area was, according to the 2000 census, home to about 15,000 people. The city forms the core of the United States Census Bureau's Baraboo Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Sauk County (2000 population: 55,225). The Baraboo mSA is just northwest of the Madison metropolitan area, with which it forms the Census Bureau's Baraboo-Madison Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 13.7 km² (5.3 mi²), all land.
Baraboo is home to the Baraboo Syncline, a doubly-plunging, asymmetric syncline in Proterozoic-aged Baraboo Quartzite. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin, most notably Charles R. Van Hise used the syncline to prove that small-scale deformational structures in isolated outcrops reflect larger regional structures and established top-facing to occur inside elaborately deformed strata. These two principles sparked a global revolution in structural geology during the 1920s. The nearby Baraboo Hills are designated one of the "Last Great Places" by the Nature Conservancy because of unique rocks, plants and animals. Devil's Lake State Park, Wisconsin's largest state park, contains large areas of the Baraboo Hills. The hills near Baraboo were created by glacial action, and in some points poke up from the flat terrain nearby to from a stark contrast. Apparently some of these features were created when a glacial pocket was formed eons ago, or in other words were the advance of the glaciar halted, creating some of the unique features of the Baraboo hills.
Civic Officials
Mayor and City Council:
Mayor Patrick Liston
Alderperson Jerry McCammond (Council President)
Alderperson Phil Wedekind
Alderperson Betty Marquardt
Alderperson Olaf Kivioja
Alderperson Michael Cone
Alderperson Brian Loeffelholz
Alderperson Ann Burke
Alderperson Brett Topham
Alderperson Eugene...
