Three-Ring Circus Events

1810 Jul 5 P. T. Barnum Is Born
Barnum was born in Bethel, Connecticut, the son of inn keeper, tailor and store-keeper Philo Barnum (1778-1826) and second wife Irene Taylor, who had ten children. He was the third great ...
1810 Jul 5 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 ...
1862 George Washington Morrison Nutt, aka 'Commodore Nutt' Appears at Barnum's American Museum
When Nutt was 17 years old he was brought to New York City to be exhibited at Barnum's American Museum that stood at the corner of Broadway and Ann Street. The museum, owned by P.T. Barnu...
1865 Isaac W. Sprague, aka 'The Original Living Skeleton' Begins Performing at Barnum's American Museum
Isaac W. Sprague (May 21, 1841, in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts - January 5, 1887, in Chicago, Illinois) was a famous "human skeleton". Although normal for most of his childhood, Sp...
1865 P. T. Barnum Elected To Connecticut Legislature
Though a Democrat for years, Barnum eventually broke from his party -- and declined its invitation to run for the state's governor -- because of the party's pro-slavery stance. He eventua...
1865 Jul 13 Barnum's American Museum Destroyed In Massive Fire
Music has ceased forever in Scudder's balcony, not because of rain but of fire. When Barnum's Museum burned, a few days since, one of the few interesting, and from Halleck's lines we may ...
1871 P. T. Barnum Begins Displaying Cardiff Giant
The Giant was the creation of a New York tobacconist named George Hull. Hull, an atheist, decided to create the giant after an argument with a fundamentalist minister named Mr. Turk about...
1871 P. T. Barnum Establishes Traveling Circus
Barnum did not enter the circus business until late in his career (he was 61). In Delavan, Wisconsin in 1871 with William Cameron Coup, he established "P. T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Muse...
1879 Arthur James Caley, aka 'The Middlebush Giant' Begins Performing at Barnum's American Museum
Arthur James Caley or Routh Goshen (May 5, 1837 - February 12, 1889) was most commonly known as Colonel Routh Goshen, but this was a stage name that was created by Phineas Taylor Barnum. ...
1880 Hiram and Barney Davis, aka 'The Wild Men of Borneo' Begin Performing at Barnum's American Museum
The Wild Men of Borneo, Waino and Plutano, were a pair of exceptionally strong dwarf brothers who were most famously associated with P. T. Barnum and his freak show exhibitions. Waino ...
1884 Fedor Jeftichew, aka Jo-Jo the Dog-Faced Boy, Begins Performing With P. T. Barnum
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1868, Fedor Jeftichew suffered from the medical condition hypertrichosis. He toured with his father, Adrian, who suffered from the same ailment and had p...
1891 Apr 7 P. T. Barnum Dies
One of the requests made by Mr. Barnum was that, when all hope was gone, sedatives which would make his passage to the next world more peaceful be administered. About 4 o'clock this morni...
1919 Mar 29 Barnum and Bailey Circus Merges With Ringling Brothers Circus
The Ringlings purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907 and ran the circuses separately until 1919. By that time, Charles Edward Ringling and John Nicholas Ringling were the only remai...