Wisconsin bar owner uncovers huge, 134-year-old circus poster: 'It should never have survived'
All Ron Berger wanted was to install a door between two buildings.
Instead, much to his astonishment, he opened a window into the early history of Durand, Wisconsin, on Labor Day weekend 2015 when he cut a hole in the wall separating the family business from the property next door to accommodate an expansion.
Initially baffled by the green and brown colors he spotted on a long-buried wall, Berger assumed they must be old water stains. But he eventually uncovered enough of the wall to recognize he was looking at the image of a buffalo, with a puff of steam rising from its nostrils, charging right at him on a grassy plain.
Further inspection, by removing electrical outlets along the wall and shining flashlights into the gap behind, revealed the vibrant colors extended the length of the wall.
By the time Berger was done excavating and researching, he had unearthed a 9-foot-high by 55-foot-long, multi-sheet, full-color paper lithograph circus poster advertising the Great Anglo-American Circus and Menagerie performing in Durand on Aug. 17, 1885, according to the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram.
More at the link:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/nati...6TckXWKbIgPuzS-lY8Gq7-1-WTb1oSlXLugx7iI_IIBqs
All Ron Berger wanted was to install a door between two buildings.
Instead, much to his astonishment, he opened a window into the early history of Durand, Wisconsin, on Labor Day weekend 2015 when he cut a hole in the wall separating the family business from the property next door to accommodate an expansion.
Initially baffled by the green and brown colors he spotted on a long-buried wall, Berger assumed they must be old water stains. But he eventually uncovered enough of the wall to recognize he was looking at the image of a buffalo, with a puff of steam rising from its nostrils, charging right at him on a grassy plain.
Further inspection, by removing electrical outlets along the wall and shining flashlights into the gap behind, revealed the vibrant colors extended the length of the wall.
By the time Berger was done excavating and researching, he had unearthed a 9-foot-high by 55-foot-long, multi-sheet, full-color paper lithograph circus poster advertising the Great Anglo-American Circus and Menagerie performing in Durand on Aug. 17, 1885, according to the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram.
More at the link:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/nati...6TckXWKbIgPuzS-lY8Gq7-1-WTb1oSlXLugx7iI_IIBqs
