The Museum
Memories, Music and More!
The Kit Carson County Carousel Museum opened in 2007. Located just a “football field” away from the carousel, admission to the museum is $1.00 with children under 10 free when accompanied by an adult. The exhibits have been designed to educate, entertain and take the visitor back in time to the turn of the twentieth century, when Carousels were “king”.
Though the Kit Carson County Carousel (historically referred to as Philadelphia Toboggan Company Carousel No. 6) is in itself, a magical museum of sound, motion and light…the interpretive exhibits help explain the “whys” and “hows” of the carousel’s existence.
The largest exhibit is the Band Organ exhibit. It has often been said that the soul of a carousel is its band organ, for riding a carousel without music is not really riding at all.
The exhibits were designed by Rand and Karen Hood of Visual West and are specific to the history and restoration of the world-famous Kit Carson County Carousel, its Monster Military Band Organ, the Philadelphia Toboggan Company and the Wurlitzer Band Organ Company. Much of the joy of visiting the carousel is the opportunity to learn about its history and its importance as the number one surviving wooden carousel in America.
The museum is a “must-see” and a “must-touch” experience. Learn how a carousel animal is carved!!! Try the one-note band organ and discover the magic of music a full century okay. And…just who did paint those 45 scenery panels?
The building housing PTC No. 6 is not elaborate and it is not heated (nor air-conditioned). Wind (and occasionally snow) often enters the building through the spaces between its twelve sides. It has no birthday party room and the space between the walls and the platform is only four feet wide. The building was built “new” in 1928 for the carousel when the then twenty-three year old carousel came to Kit Carson County from its original home at Elitch Gardens Amusement Park in Denver...and it is an absolute perfect home for the carousel lion and his 45 wooden friends!
The Family Tree of the Kit Carson County Carousel
It’s a wonder to think about all that has happened in the world from the time when our carousel first began to turn its magic. Just like longing to learn the history of one’s family, we are fascinated by the history of The Kit Carson County Carousel.
When carousel conservator Will Morton began restoration of the 46 figures of the Kit Carson County Carousel (Philadelphia Toboggan Company No.6) in 1979, he was surprised to find that most of the animals on our world-famous carousel are marked with a PTC No.7 or PTC No.8. Only ten of our animals are not marked with No.7 or No.8. These ten animals, including the hippocampus and the lion, don’t have a machine number at all.
The Philadelphia Toboggan Company was still in its infancy when our beloved Kit Carson County Carousel PTC No.6, was produced for Elitch Gardens in Denver. The story goes that an Elitch Garden’s owner traveled to Philadelphia and picked animals “off the shelf” for their almost finished carousel shortly before it was delivered out west in 1905.
Philadelphia Toboggan Company opened up for business in 1904 with a head start by negotiating the purchase of the E. Joy Morris Company, another carousel maker in the Philadelphia area. According to PTC records, machines 6, 7, and 8 were all built in 1905. Are our ten figures without numbers part of the original E. Joy Morris inventory? All indications point to yes, but no one knows for sure. It is also possible some or all of our figures marked No.7 or No.8 also came from the E. Joy Morris inventory, or they could’ve been carved by PTC, but from E. Joy Morris patterns that would’ve been included in the sale of the company to PTC.
Just like family history, we often rely on stories and speculations, to piece together how things might have happened. If only we could give PTC No.6 a DNA test to know exactly how it came about! No matter, PTC No. 6 is sure to bring joy and magic to riders for centuries to come.
