The Ringling Brothers Circus has retired

The last Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus performamnce was last month. “The circus goes back thousands of years” to ancient Roman times, according to the World Book Encyclopedia, (1970).   

In modern times, it developed in the 1700s in England and “soon spread to America.” By the late 1800s, about 10 circuses claimed to tour this country, with each boasting “it was the biggest or the best.”  

In 1884, the five Ringling brothers, who lived in Iowa and then Wisconsin, started a rival show in Wisconsin. There were “musicians, jugglers and clowns” and, according to World Book, “by 1884 they had saved enough money to start a wagon show with a trained horse and a dancing bear. In 1888 they bought their first elephant and by 1890 the circus traveled by train.” 

In 1907 they bought the Barnum and Bailey Circus, known as the “Greatest Show on Earth.” By 1919 they joined the two circuses and it became “the largest and most famous in history,” according to World Book. “The Ringling family sold it in 1967, but the name of the circus did not change.” 

Henry Nobel MacCracken wrote about the circus in the Hudson Valley in a chapter titled, “The Frolickers,” in his book “Blithe Dutchess” (1958). He began by stating that most characteristic of Hudson River counties was the circus. He said it was born in Putnam and Westchester but added Dutchess had a share in it, stating that many sons of Dutchess went into circus life rather “than follow the plough” and “where rich farmland fed the elephant cry for hay.” 

He mentioned Van Amburgh, and then, Hyatt Frost of Amenia, who later took over from him in the 1820s and ultimately became internationally known as a showman. 

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Dewey Barry also wrote of the circus, in Newton Reed’s “Early History of Amenia” (1985), where these two names are prominent in his chapter on the Great Van Amburgh Circus. He wrote that Frost took over the circus in 1865 upon Van Amburgh’s death and wintered the circus in Amenia “on the Amenia Fair Grounds” (now Freshtown Plaza) on land that extended up to Perry’s Corners Road and Route 22 (now Maplebrook School property). 

The history of the circus can be found on Google. One source tells the tale of formation, travel, lawsuits, demise and revival. It is a story of well-over 100 years in the partnership of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey, with the last owner being Kenneth Feld. 

Here’s part of what Feld said before shutting down his circus for good: 

“On Sunday, May 21, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey said its final farewell to a sold out crowd of incredibly enthusiastic fans. The response they gave to everyone who made the show possible — performers, staff and crew — was heartwarming. Though it was difficult to say goodbye, my family and I were heartened to send off The Greatest Show on Earth in the celebratory and positive fashion this American treasure deserves.”                                      

And to think Hyatt Frost wintered his circus here in Amenia in the late 1880s, during “the most romantic period in circus history” (Reed, 1985).

Arlene Iuliano is the Amenia town historian.