A few months ago, we posted a List of Oddball Museums. While we are not looking to post a tour of each of these, we couldn't turn down this trip report from Will Knogle. After all, root beer is the official beverage of Hicks Car Works. Thanks, Will!
While I was in Wisconsin Dells, I was able to make it to the Museum of Root Beer. I was hoping to also make it to the Museum of Torture, which is also in Wisconsin Dells, but it was closed for the winter season.
The Museum of Root Beer is a quaint, small museum dedicated to the history of root beer. There were several informative displays on the origins of root beer. Other exhibits focused on the drive-in aspect of various brands of root beer.
By far the largest and most noticeable exhibit at the museum is the large collection of root beer bottles. From what I understand, their goal is to collect at least one bottle from every manufacturer of root beer. They even had a small theater where you can watch vintage root beer advertisements, which you could rate with a QR code provided.
The museums gift shop is your typical small soda shop with various brands of soda and root beer available for purchase.
All in all, the museum was well worth the price of entry $5.50, and I would recommend it to anyone who loves root beer.
And really, who doesn't?
5 comments:
I hope you may get a submission from Will, showing a visit to the Dells' Riverside and Great Northern. In a way, it is an oddball museum - a railroad museum of a replica/functional miniature railroad builder (who had an appreciation of old machinery) that went out of business in the 1970s or so. ). O. Anderson
I will have to take a look at that the next time I am up there
I remember going on vacation in Wisconsin many years ago, and I remember seeing the giant water parks at the Wisconsin Dells. . .from the interstate as my parents drove right past the Dells and went to the Mid-Continent Railroad Museum instead-, and also did a drive-by pass the Circus World Museum in Baraboo.
So no water park capitol of world for me, but I traded for riding behind an ALCO S-Class switcher at Mid-Continent, and then riding behind a Fairbanks Morse H10-44 at the National Railroad Museum the following day.
-Matt Maloy
I posted a rather detailed treatment of the Riverside and Great Northern back in September of 2021. As Thurber would say, you could look it up.
Thanks,
Every visit can uncover new things, and I see a few items in your visit I never saw before. For others, here is the link:
https://hickscarworks.blogspot.com/2021/09/riverside-and-great-northern.html
The shops and structures present a unique interpretation of an 1880-1910 railroad shop facility. Always enjoyed poking around there.
O. Anderson
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