Ringlingville USA: The Stupendous Story of Seven Siblings and Their Stunning Circus Success

The Ringling Brothers began their business under the most modest of circumstances and through hard work, business savvy, and some luck created the largest, most famous circus in the world. They became wealthy men, one 50 cent admission ticket at a time.
Ringlingville USA chronicles the brothers' journey from immigrant poverty to enduring glory as the kings of the circus world. The Ringlings and their circus were last studied in depth over four decades ago. Now, for the first time, the brothers' detailed financial records and personal correspondence are available to researchers. Jerry Apps weaves together that information with newspaper accounts, oral histories, colorful anecdotes, and stunning circus ephemera and photos, many never before been published, to illuminate the importance of the Ringlings' accomplishments. He describes how the Ringling Brothers confronted the challenges of taxation, war, economic pressure, changing technology, and personal sorrows to find their place in history. The brothers emerge as complex characters whose ambition, imagination, and pure hucksterism fueled the phenomenon that was the Ringling Brothers' Circus.

Ringlingville USA: The Stupendous Story of Seven Siblings and their Stunning Circus Success

Jerry Apps

Fred Dahlinger, Jr.

Humor & Entertainment

Wisconsin Historical Society Press

Come one! Come all! Beginning in the 1870s, specially built trains transported the circus to eager crowds across the US. Now the magic of these circus trains is captured for all to enjoy in the delightful book. Rare behind-the-scenes photographs display the exciting and unusual construction and operation of circus trains. Witness animals being loaded and unloaded. Experience life inside the coaches that housed circus personnel. See flamboyant paint schemes, special length railroad cars, and rare builders' photos. Exciting rail scenes sure to excite the imagination!

Trains of the Circus, 1872-1956

Engineering & Transportation

Transportation

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Books by Fred Dahlinger, Jr.