Phineas Taylor Barnum Is Born

Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-91) was born in Bethel, Connecticut, on July 5, 1810. Barnum did not invent the modern three-ring circus, nor did he even apply his flair for publicity to the circus until he was more than sixty years old; but his name continues to be associated with the spectacle that he called "the greatest show on earth."

In 1835, one year after moving to New York City, having already worked as a clerk, a merchant, a lottery agent, and a journalist, Barnum joined the ranks of professional showmen by introducing to the public an elderly woman named Joice Heth as George Washington's 161-year-old nurse. Although at the time of Heth’s death in 1836, the story was exposed as a hoax, Barnum had found his calling in the world of entertainment and in the power of novelty to draw and delight a crowd.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jul05.html