making false claims, the brochure was rewritten, and misleading signs were removed from the exhibit. However, the exhibits retained their colorful names, allowing visitors to surmise what they wished. The room-sized assemblages of what appear to be mechanical musical instruments are partly illusion. Some of the instruments actually play, but the strings and woodwinds in particular do not; their sound is actually produced by organ pipes, while the moving instruments fool visitors. Today, the nature of the exhibits is disclosed, though perhaps not emphasized, by the management; for example, the current website notes, "All the armor featured in this elaborate collection was made for The House on the Rock". This was not always the case. According to Balousek, before 1978 brochures advertised authentic Tiffany lamps, said the Gladiator Calliope dated from 1895, that the Franz Josef music machine had actually belonged to the Austrian emperor, that the Tusk of Ranchipoor was genuine ivory carved by an "unknown Punjab artisan," and so forth. The official 1993 brochure says that the house "boasts the largest collection of Bauer and Coble lamps in the world. The management considers them finer and expects them to be more valuable than Tiffany's," and boasts that "The 'Four Seasons' panels are thought to be the only exact replica of the original and very popular Tiffany effort." Timeline c. 1920 – Alex Jordan Sr. allegedly vowed (see "Background" section above for the doubts of this story) to "put up a Japanese house on one of those pinnacle rocks" to spite Frank Lloyd Wright. According to the official House on the Rock website, this is a story created by Jordan’s friend, Sid Boyum, to build promotion for the House on the Rock. c. 1945 – Alex Jordan Jr. began blasting to form a level foundation at the top of the pinnacle. He talked to the farmer who owned the rock but did not bother to secure formal rights at the time. The first structure on the rock was a simple "tent" (Moe) or a "picnic place with a tarpaper roof". 1952 – An electric hoist was installed to aid construction. 1959 – Labor Day: Jordan placed a stone marker on Highway 23 and officially opened the house to paying visitors. 1961 – The "Gate House" was built. 1962 – Wisconsin Trails magazine published a long article about the house by Howard Mead. The article marked the status of the