
Birthday party at the circus

On the left, an acrobat and a strong woman. On the right, a little girl who grew up an aerialist.
Koo Koo The Bird Girl

1909 - poor girl. Click to read about her.
Tex & Gota Elmlund
1939, in their horse act at Ringling Brothers.
P.T. Barnum's Wildman of Borneo
(When there were sideshows)
1899 circus poster

"Daring Madam Castello's Amazing Exploits On The Equine Marvel Jupiter".
Main entrance to Ringling Brothers Circus

Circa 1900 - get those cash registers ringing!
"The Fat Lady" (with the circus)
Ringling Brothers poster, 1899

At the end of the 19th century, the show was "tremendous, patriotic, educational, moral, glorious . . . " and more!
Charles Ringling

One of the Ringling Brothers with his wife.
1899 elephant attraction

"Engaged at the highest salary ever paid any attraction."
"The Bearded Lady" 1909

Pretty much a man in a dress?
Tom Thumb's wedding, 1863

P. T. Barnum made him a star.
Teddy Roosevelt III

Teddy Roosevelt's grandson at the circus, 1924.
The Escalante Circus
Joan of Arc pageant - 1912

"An inspiring vivid picture of bewildering splendor and patriotic zeal"?!
John Ringling

The circus owner visits the White House, 1925.
Children's Hospital Circus, 1923

Society Circus, 1924

Everyone wants to be the ringmaster!
Traveling with the circus, 1915
Some of the parts of the tent circus, 1899.

Even a "free street carnival"!
The elephants and the trains

1907
Family at the circus, 1926

"Me & Babe at Ringling"

Handsome horse! 1902
Elephants play tubas?

1899 - "Nothing like them ever seen before" - or since!
Johnny J. Jones Circus, 1925

1890 poster of clowns

The Ringling Brothers Circus began in 1884 when 5 brothers (Al, Alf, Charles, Otto, and John) began a small traveling circus in Wisconsin. Like many other small circuses of the time, they traveled around in horse drawn carts.
Their circus quickly grew in popularity and as they grew they began traveling in trains, becoming the largest traveling entertainment of the time. And so, when P.T. Barnum died in 1891 and James Bailey died in 1906, the Ringling brothers were able to purchase Barnum and Bailey's Traveling Circus (it began in 1871) who billed themselves as "The Greatest Show on Earth."
The circus performances would include acrobats, trained animals, jugglers, tightrope walkers, clowns and of course the 'freak show'. While completely unacceptable today, the 'freak show' was a popular exhibition of biological rarities - see the photos below - of people with uncommon physical and rare disease characteristics.
In 1919, the two remaining brothers involved in the circus business (Charles and John) merged Ringling Brothers shows and Barnum and Bailey shows - making them the largest circus in the United States. In the 1950's, Ringling Barnum and Bailey abandoned tent shows - moving to indoor venues - and dropped freak shows. The last member of the Ringling family sold the circus and the decline began - not due to changing ownership but to the changing tastes of the public.
Click "next page" below to see photos of the people who pioneered modern entertainment.