The circus began as the “Carl Hagenbeck Trained Animal Show” by
Carl Hagenbeck (1844–1913). Hagenbeck was an animal trainer who pioneered the use of rewards-based animal training as opposed to fear-based training. Meanwhile,
Benjamin Wallace, a stable owner from
Peru, Indiana, and his business partner, James Anderson, bought a circus in 1884 and created "The Great Wallace Show". The show gained some prominence when their copyright for advertising posters was upheld by the Supreme Court in
Bleistein v. Donaldson Lithographing Company. Wallace bought out his partner in 1890 and formed the "B. E. Wallace Circus". In 1907, Wallace purchased the Carl Hagenbeck Circus and merged it with his circus. In the spirit of "the show must go on", several competing circuses, including
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey, lent equipment and performers to Hagenbeck-Wallace so that only two performances were canceled as a result of the tragedy, the one in Hammond and the next stop in
Monroe, Wisconsin. After the tragedy, circus entrepreneurs
Jeremiah Mugivan and
Bert Bowers acquired Hagenbeck–Wallace Circus, adding it to a long list of circuses they owned, including
Sells-Floto Circus and
John Robinson Shows. Mugivan was the chief operations man. A year later, Mugivan and Bowers asked Ballard to join them and the trio formed the
American Circus Company. The successor company of the
American Circus Corporation was sold by
Jeremiah Mugivan,
Bert Bowers and
Ed Ballard to
John Nicholas Ringling of
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey in 1929 for $1.7 million (US$ in ), along with
Al G. Barnes Circus,
Sells-Floto Circus,
John Robinson Shows, and
Sparks Circus. The circus was leased in 1938 and spent its winter just outside
Baldwin Park, California. There, on 35 acres of land, the circus stayed with its huge parade wagons parked alongside a railroad spur. The elephants spent time hauling refuse wagons, shunting railroad cars and piling baled hay. A tent at the eastern edge of the grounds was used by aerialists to practice trapeze and high-wire acts. The circus usually remained there from late November to early spring. The
Great Depression and Ringling's ill health caused the Ringling empire to falter. In 1935, the circus split from Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey and became the Hagenbeck-Wallace and Forepaugh-Sells Bros. Circus. It finally ceased operations in 1938, seventy-nine years before Ringling itself closed. The complex near Peru that formerly housed the winter home of Hagenbeck-Wallace now serves as the home of the
Circus Hall of Fame. ==In fiction==