Born in Kreuznach, Germany, in 1844 and trained by his carousel-builder father, Gustav A. Dentzel came to the United States in 1864 and set up a production facility in Philadelphia. His company produced some one hundred carousels across the country, only five of which remain. Meridian’s carousel is the only one still housed in its original shelter, which was built to a design provided by the Dentzel Company. The carousel was first installed in 1904 at the St. Louis Exposition and was moved here with its shelter in 1909. The shelter ( pictured above) is a one-story, rectangular-plan, board-and-batten-covered structure with three-over-three sash windows and an octagonal clerestory with a tent roof. Inside the shelter, fluted square columns support exposed rafters and a beaded-board ceiling. Thirty feet in diameter, the carousel has twenty-eight animal figures carved from bass and poplar woods, all mounted two abreast, as well as two double-seat chariots. At the core of the carousel, its machinery is visible, as is a mast from which sixteen spokes radiate to a circumferential fascia-like ring. Thirty-two oil paintings of animals and landscapes on wooden panels are arranged around the ring inside elaborate wooden frames, which are painted with swirling, Rococo-like flourishes. The carousel is enhanced with additional painted images on canvas.