When your parents slowed down at this sign, you knew you were in for a treat.

If you grew up around Beloit, there was a time when seeing the Circus Drive-In sign along Highway 51 meant the trip was about to get a little more interesting.

Maybe your parents were actually stopping. Maybe you were just hoping they would. Either way, Circus became one of those roadside landmarks that generations of people recognized without needing an address. The story of this unusual building began before there was a Circus Drive-In.

The restaurant was originally a Golden Point Drive-In. Roadside architecture research dates the building to 1958 and identifies it as one of the early locations of the Golden Point chain. If you walk up to the building today, the evidence is still right above the entrance. More than six decades later, the words THE GOLDEN POINT remain attached to the building.

Even the unusual architecture was part of the attraction. This was a restaurant built for the automobile age, when getting the attention of someone traveling down the highway mattered. The dramatic triangular structure rising above the roof made the restaurant difficult to miss from the road. This was a very different Highway 51.

Before Interstate 90 became the preferred route between Beloit and Janesville, U.S. 51 was an important north-south highway carrying local residents and travelers directly along this stretch of Riverside Drive. Gas stations, restaurants, motels and other roadside businesses were part of the experience of traveling America’s highways.

Golden Point did not keep its name for long. Roadside architecture records indicate that by 1963 the Beloit restaurant had become Circus Drive-In.

The new name proved considerably more enduring. For more than half a century, Circus became part of life along Highway 51. This was still the era of the drive-in restaurant, when pulling into a parking space and eating in the car was part of the fun. The covered carhop lanes remain beside the building today, reminders of the way the restaurant once served its customers.

Circus also became more than a place to grab something to eat. Richard “Dick” La Monte, whose obituary says Circus Drive-In brought him to Beloit in 1971, established a kiddie park at the restaurant. For children lucky enough to convince their parents to stop, Circus really could become a roadside attraction.

Kids grew up. Some eventually brought their own children. Cars changed, Highway 51 changed and interstate travel changed the way people moved between communities, but that enormous Circus sign kept standing beside the road.

Records show Circus was still a licensed restaurant in 2016. Not long afterward, after more than half a century under the Circus name, the food stopped being served.

Today, driving past the property feels very different. The towering sign is still there, but its message board is empty. The covered carhop lanes are quiet. Weeds have begun reclaiming parts of the pavement. The unusual building that once existed specifically to make passing motorists look over is still doing exactly that, except now there is nowhere to pull in for a treat.

That is why Circus remains such a powerful landmark. It represents a kind of roadside America that is slowly disappearing. These were not simply places to eat. They became markers along the journey. You knew where you were because you recognized the restaurant, the motel, the gas station or the enormous sign beside the highway.

For generations of people traveling between Beloit and Janesville, Circus was one of those markers.

What are your favorite memories of this piece of Beloit’s history?