John Lysaker
The circus came to La Crosse by rail in 1955. What a sight it must have been to see the elephants stretching their legs at the Burlington Rail Yard before they headed downtown for the show that evening.
This interview comes from the UWL Oral History Program at Special Collections Murphy Library.
Transcript
Location: 1620 Gohres St.
John Lysaker: I worked at two different stations on the railroad. Uh, as a matter of fact, I was a switchman on the last circus train into La Crosse. So that—
Nicole Wilson (interviewer): Oh, wow, when was that?
Lysaker: Oh boy, how about 1955, or so long in there? ‘55, yeah. And we—they came into the North Side Burlington yards. And, uh, I believe it was kinda around noon or so, they came in there and, uh, maybe it was a little later than that and, uh, we put them together. They had the elephant car there and a lion car and all that stuff. And they let the elephants out and walk a little bit. And, uh, then we put them together and took them downtown.
