Lost Circuses of Ohio by Conrade C. Hinds

Author:Conrade C. Hinds
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2019-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Walter L. Main Circus bandwagon with orchestra. Circa 1890. Geneva/Ashtabula County Library.

On returning home from his splendid vacation, Walter found a payment had been made to his bank in Geneva. The deposit was made by Rhoda Royal and his partners as rent for the show that Walter had not seen but once or twice all season long. The Rhoda Royal management concluded that they could cut down the equipment and reduce the show to four cars, play some of the smaller towns and remain in the South all winter; but again, this experiment was a failure and they went broke on the proposition.

Feeling greatly rejuvenated and fresh from his foreign trip, Walter decided to re-organize and re-fit the show and start out in the spring of 1901 with an entirely new, up-to-date circus, copied somewhat after the show style he witnessed in Europe. Soon after starting, with sixteen cars and one advertising car, it was discovered that the outfit would not do, and ten cages of animals, a drove of camels and six more cars were added.

During the summer, an entirely new winter quarters was built one mile west of Geneva, Ohio, on a new farm adjoining the LS&MS and the Nickel Plate railroad tracks, with switch connections right on the grounds. The show opened in Geneva on May 4, 1901, and its route went through New England and on to Long Island for eleven days, which proved five days too much, and then headed to Vermont, New Hampshire, and south to New Jersey, and then to Baltimore, Washington, and other southern cities. The season closed at Tennille, Georgia, on December 7 and was shipped home.

As usual, the season of 1902 opened in Geneva on April 19 and closed at Roxboro, North Carolina, on November 11. The show was on twenty-five railcars, with two in advance. It had three rings, a stage and the great hippodrome track. This was the first time the show ever played Boston, and it made a tremendous hit in establishing itself as a big show in the New England region, where the Barnum & Bailey and the Adam Forepaugh shows had always been dominant. After Boston, all of the eastern territory was played to a greatly increased business over previous seasons, and as a whole the tour proved highly successful. The new lineup of talented acts that year included the Boise Family, Olga Reed (a granddaughter of old Dan Rice), William Devan, Lizzie Rooney, Blanch Hilliard, Essie Fay, William Melrose and the Martel Family. They made up an exceptionally strong program and presented it in such a manner as to command the attention of the public everywhere.

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