Stopping By!
Carl Hagenbeck founded a circus named after himself in 1903, which merged with Benjamin Wallace’s Great Wallace Show in 1907 to form the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. They were founded in Indiana and traveled the country until 1938 (Wikipedia, 2022).
Barnum and Bailey's was founded by P.T. Barnum & Hachaliah Bailey in New York before fully merging with the Ringling Brothers in 1919 after being acquired by the company 12 years before (Wikipedia, 2022).
International Travelers!
The Imperial Japanese Circus's comes to Ann Arbor
In 1895, the Curtis & Ogawa Imperial Japanese Circus made it's debut in the American Midwest . The Japanese performers fenced, tumbled, juggled, and top-spun. The company is described as the "only Japanese circus of the kind in America."
Many of the records we found were not easily identified as being of a particular circus, but are still interesting to study. These records document unidentified circuses and parades throughout Michigan.
