The Dan Rice Circus visited LaPorte as early as 1858. (Pinterest photo)
By Fern Eddy Schultz, La Porte County Historian
What an event in the lives of both young and old — the day the circus came to town!
La Porte County Historian Fern Eddy Schultz
None of the early advertisements for circuses that visited locally (and there were many) record the location of the events. However, Mary Blair, an early resident, recalled that the circus ground in La Porte was at the head of Madison Street in an orchard that stood roughly between A and B Streets and First and Second Streets. She said there were references to some of these shows that appeared as early as the 1840s, and some traveled by horse-and-wagon caravans of two or three wagons.
Mabie’s Circus, which was organized in 1840 by Ed and Jere Mabie, was in La Porte in 1849 but was evidently not well attended as it was reported they “hardly had sufficient to meet expenses and tax bills.”
Martin F. Barlag, a local resident, wrote some of his reminiscences of the circuit. He recalled they would come into town by train and be sidetracked on what was known as the “team track,” so called because local Teamsters would be hired to transport the wagons from the siding to the show grounds. This track was a siding of the Lake Erie & Western located east of Tipton Street, parallel to the New York Central tracks.
The wagons would begin their trek to the show ground at daybreak. First to be moved was the Big Top. The wagons containing the animals and the steam calliope would not be moved until time for the Big Parade. The parade went down Main Street (now Lincoln Way), with the steam calliope’s blare in advance. It would continue to Tyler Street, then to E Street to the fairgrounds (now the site of La Porte High School).
The Adam Forepaugh Show came to town several times in the 1800s. (Circus World Museum photo)
There would almost always be two performances provided — one in the afternoon and one in the evening. The going rate was 50 cents for box seats, 25 cents for pit, and children under 10 were admitted for half price. Before circus companies owned their own railroad trains (excluding the engines), they traveled in teams.
Newspapers carried considerable promotional information — some of it would probably be found offensive today and some of the “acts” would no longer be considered acceptable. In 1858, Dan Rice introduced the “Herd of Sacred Cattle,” “Charge of the Mamulukes” and the “Blind Talking Horse.” In 1867, Yankee Robinson brought his “Colossal Moral Exhibition” of nine shows to La Porte which was a “Consolidated Menagerie.” G.G. Grady’s “Great American Circus Mammoth Menagerie and Gratuitous Balloon Exposition” was in town in 1873, with “800 men, horses, beasts and birds.”
Adam Forepaugh brought his Great Centennial Show in 1876 and he was so well received that he returned again in 1877 and 1882. In 1882, he offered a street show and “under no circumstances are games of chance or gambling permitted on the grounds.” Mr. Forepaugh suggested the proper “authorities join in the suppression of the prevalent vice.”
Ringling Bros. appeared in 1893 and again in 1896 with Large and Living Giraffe and Golden Steam Calliope. Five long trains of double-length cars of Barnum & Bailey’s Greatest Show on Earth came to town following the early ones. Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey arrived for a show Aug. 1, 1946. The three-ring Cole Bros. Circus appeared on the circus grounds on Philadelphia Street opposite the former state highway building in 1947. It featured Baby Dorothy, the youngest elephant ever imported to this country.
A number of circuses have used the Civic Auditorium as their “grounds.” There were many circus event in Michigan City also. Some circus companies in the 1940s, 1950s and up until the time the South Side Park & Shop Center was built, were set up on the grounds at the corner of Franklin Street and Coolspring Avenue.
The circus clowns were as important as any of the other acts. During World War II, they helped calm war nerves of the spectators who wanted to relax away from the happenings in the world. If they had received service bars for war bond rallies, trips to hospitals and orphanages, they’d be wearing them from wrist to shoulder. And then there was the circus band. There was some original music written just for the circus band that reportedly contained the “warm, exciting, unaffected feeling of a great American occasion … Circus Day!”
FERN EDDY SCHULTZ is La Porte County’s official Historian. To learn more about the La Porte County Historical Society and its museum, visit www.laportecountyhistory.org.