THE CIRCUS AN ATTRACTION NEARLY 70 YEARS AGO......

Painted circus cars line the rails as the townspeople all thrill welcome the arrival of the "Big Top"

Above an early print showing the scene when P.T. Barnum's Circus train came to an American town in 1876.

Though circuses had been known in the in the colonial days, the golden age of the circus really began in 1871.  That was the era of free street parades and painted wagons.  The glamour of the Big Top still holds its lure.

Wide World July 7th 1944