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The first circus to call Delavan home

Photo at left: The former Mabie Farm across from Lake Lawn Resort. More Mystery Place photos are GALLERY

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The Mabie Bros. Circus purchased 400 acres in the area of what is now Lake Lawn Resort in 1847. They paid $3,700 to Nicholas Thorne for the property.

The Mabies called it Lake Lawn Farm, and it became their winter quarters.

Within a short time, they bought additional land along Delavan Lake, as well as a gristmill in Delavan.

Edmund Mabie built a home in Delavan at 338 W. Walworth St. His brother, Jeremiah, managed the circus that became famous for its two performing elephants — Romeo and Juliet.

Juliet died during the winter of 1863-64, and because the ground was too cold to bury her, they hauled the huge body onto Delavan Lake. It sank in the spring, and the bones are reportedly still somewhere on the bottom.

Romeo eventually went rogue and killed five handlers. He died in 1872.

Among its innovations, the Mabie Bros. Circus is credited with introducing pink lemonade and tent dining at their shows. The creation of pink lemonade is traced back to a mishap when one of the employees was mixing lemonade in a container that had held red paint.

Discovering the lemonade had turned pink, the employee began to discard the drink. However, one of the Mabie brothers reportedly said, “No. Just tell them it’s something new — pink lemonade.”

Circus-goers enjoyed the new beverage and began to request it.

Many of the owners of other Delavan-based circuses during the period of 1856-1894 began their careers with the Mabie Bros. Circus.

About 25 circuses had their beginnings in Delavan. The Mabie Bros. Circus was the first and began 24 years before P.T. Barnum’s circus began in Baraboo.

At one time, Jeremiah and Edmund Mabie owned 1,000 acres in the township.

The brothers were leaders in the community and were members of the Delavan Congregation Church. Their influence followed in the footsteps of Henry and Col. Samuel F. Phoenix, founders of Delavan.

At first, Jeremiah Mabie would not bring his young wife, Anna, from New York because he did not want her to associate with circus people. Eventually, she did arrive with her daughter, Marie Antionette Mabille (the family’s original name).

But they lived in the city of Delavan, rather than on the farm.

After Jeremiah’s death, Anna built a resort on the shore of Delavan Lake, and called it Lake Lawn Lodge.