Delavan's Circus Colony

Delavan's Circus Colony (HMMCE)

Location: Delavan, WI 53115 Walworth County
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Country: United States of America
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N 42° 38', W 88° 39.24'

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Inscription
In 1847 two New York brothers, Edmund and Jeremiah Mabie, toured Wisconsin with their United States Olympic Circus. The circus stopped over in Delavan and the brothers took time off to hunt prairie chicken near Delavan Lake. They liked the area so well that they purchased 400 acres of land and established winter-quarters for the circus here.
Because this circus was the largest and most profitable in existence, circus performers and other show personnel flocked to Delavan. Twenty-six circuses winter-quartered here between 1847 and 1894, including Harry Buckley's National Circus and Roman Hippodrome, W.C. Coup-Dan Castello's Egyptian Caravan, Holland and McMahon World's Circus. The colorful days of the circus era in Delavan ended with the E.G. Holland & Co. Railroad Shows.
In 1871 the idea for forming the P.T.Barnum Circus was developed in Delavan by W.C. Coup, who also was first to put a large circus on rails and introduced the second and third ring to the performance. Delavan reached its peak as a "circus town" during the 1870's. About seventy members of the "circus colony" are buried in Spring Grove and St. Andrew's cemeteries.
Details
HM NumberHMMCE
Series This marker is part of the Wisconsin: Wisconsin Historical Society series
Tags
Marker Number128
Year Placed1963
Placed ByState Historical Society of Wisconsin
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Tuesday, September 2nd, 2014 at 1:53am PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)16T E 364384 N 4721424
Decimal Degrees42.63333333, -88.65400000
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 42° 38', W 88° 39.24'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds42° 37' 60.00" N, 88° 39' 14.40" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)262, 608
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 127 N Vine St, Delavan WI 53115, US
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