June 2 Tues. There is a show in town. It is show enough to see the people go by for it is upon this ground past our house [on Michigan Ave.]. Came home from school, found a letter which surprised me very much. Went up to Aunt Lizzie's. Came home and Will insisted upon my going to the show, so I went and stayed to the concert.
What was this "show"? A gigantic ad in the May 30, 1874 Ypsilanti Commercial reveals it was the circus! Dusty D is appending excerpts from this ad below, just for fun. (Click for larger image).
Here's more on that circus, suggesting that it came in by rail and that it was an exceptional show for its era.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.circusinamerica.org/public/corporate_bodies/public_show/55
Circus: Howe's Great London Circus, 1871-1876
"1873 was a banner year for the development of the circus with an increase in attendance, touring, and tent size with the addition of the second ring to increase performance space. The second "innovation" of the circus in 1873 was addition of the flying squadron. The flying squadron consisted of a group of men that would arrive in town a day ahead of the circus to drive the tent stakes. This meant that the circus would save considerable time in putting up tents and preparing for performances. The circus was now able to follow the great expansion of American wherever railroad tracks were laid. No longer was the circus relegated to follow only the dirt roads of an expanding country. The circus had become by far the most popular form of entertainment in America, and Barnum , Coup’s and Castello’s enterprise was America’s leading circus, “The Greatest Show on Earth.”
http://www.cas.muohio.edu/anthromuseum/CircusHistory.htm
which lead me to this
1872
* Coup put the entire Barnum show on sixty plus railroad cars and used the railroads to move from one location to the next, but, this was not the first show to take to the rails. In actuality, Spalding & Rogers had had their show moving on rail in the mid-1850’s. Coup, however, was probably the first to really work out the “bugs.”
1873
* With growing expenses and growing audiences, who needed unobstructed views of the show, W.C. Coup introduced a second ring for the Barnum show. This is the first two-ring circus.
Mr. V, that is terrific! Thank you! I love learning more about it.
ReplyDelete...And I am officially bestowing upon you (trumpet flourish) honorary membership in my crack Historical Authenticity Lightning Forensics-Wielding Investigative Team.* My team recently conducted a ninja-like investigation of the so-called "McCullough Urn" at the Senior Center and did just as great a job as you do with your informative and interesting comments.
Congratulations!
*only $199.99 per annum, payable in easy installments.
Dusty, so long as you stick to probing history before 1922, I'm set to go; Google Book Search has a gold mine of public domain stuff, but most of it dries up as soon as copyrights get in the way.
ReplyDelete