BARABOO, a city of Wisconsin, U.S.A., on the Baraboo river, Federal highway 12, and the Chicago and North Western railroad, about 35m. N.W. of Madison; the county-seat of Sauk county. The population was 6,324 in 1910; 5,545 in 1930 This decrease was caused by the removal of the railway shops to a more convenient point on completion of a new short cut on the Chicago and North Western in 1915.
Baraboo is built on a series of hills and bluffs about i,000ft. above sea-level, and is a centre for summer tourists. Devil's lake, in the largest of Wisconsin's State parks, is three miles to the south ; Mirror lake a few miles to the north-west and the lower dells of the Wisconsin river, noted for their weird beauty, are near Kilbourn, i 2m. N. Woollen goods, towels, rugs, refriger ator-cars and barn equipment are manufactured in the city, with power from hydroelectric development of the Wisconsin river.
The city, first settled in 1839 and chartered in 1882, was named after Jean Baribault, an early French trapper. The Ringling cir cus had its winter quarters here before its consolidation with the Barnum and Bailey company in 1918.