Town file
Baraboo, Wisconsin
Baraboo, Wisconsin (Sauk County, Wisconsin) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 32, "Broken Bones & Brutal Murder" (23 August 2017). On 4 July 1994, in Baraboo, Wisconsin, fourteen-year-old Chris Steiner went to bed after the Fourth of July fireworks.
- Town
- Baraboo
- County
- Sauk County
- State
- Wisconsin
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 32
- Approximate location
- 43.468, -89.738
Episode 32 / 23 August 2017 / 71 min / full
Broken Bones & Brutal Murder
"Let's go to Baraboo, Wisconsin; it's in Sauk County" about 0:04:48
The case: Murder of Chris Steiner (July 1994); Kidnapping and torture of Thad Phillips (July 1995). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2017
- Population
- 12,155 people
- Median age
- 37.4
- Median household income
- $39,092
- Median home value
- $132,000
- Two-bedroom rent
- about $780
- Cost of living
- 90
- Religious
- 51.3%
- Property crime
- ▲ a third higher
- Property crime
- ▲ about double
- Violent crime
- ▼ almost one-third lower
- Violent crime
- ▼ slightly lower
History, in brief
- The town website says prominently, 'Welcome to Gem City'. about 0:07:37
- It is named after the nearby Baraboo Hills, designated by the Nature Conservancy as one of the last great places because of their rare rocks, plants and animals. about 0:07:45
- The hills were created by glaciers. about 0:07:56
- The first settler was a man named Abe Wood. about 0:08:06
- The village was originally called Adams. about 0:08:41
- In 1846 it became the county seat of Sauk County after a fierce fight with the nearby village of Reedsburg. about 0:08:47
- It was incorporated as a city in 1882. about 0:09:09
- It was the home of the Ringling Brothers Circus and from 1884 to 1917 the headquarters of their circus and several others, earning the name Circus City, USA. about 0:09:24
- Circus World Museum in Baraboo is a living history museum with a collection of circus wagons and artefacts, live circus performances, and the largest library of circus information in the United States. about 0:10:24
- The museum used to hold a great circus parade with wagons and performers going through the streets of Baraboo and across the state by train. about 0:10:53
- The Al Ringling Theater is a grand-scale movie palace in downtown Baraboo and the biggest building in town. about 0:11:03
- The Ringling home still exists. about 0:11:12
- There was a large munitions factory in the area during the Second World War called the Badger Army Ammunition Plant. about 0:11:16
- Circus Aircraft, maker of the world's best-selling single-engine aircraft, the SR-22, was the first manufacturer to install a whole-plane parachute recovery system. about 0:11:25
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Windsor, Wisconsin28 miles
- Mount Horeb, Wisconsin32 miles
- Columbus, Wisconsin37 miles
- Mineral Point, Wisconsin47 miles
- Tomah, Wisconsin52 miles
- Jefferson, Wisconsin57 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.