Circus Days Part 3
Part 3: The Aftermath
HRHS Photo0748
This photo takes us back to Harrisonburg’s court square as a circus parade traveled north on Main Street. Many signs clearly state AUG 24 as an important date. Zooming in, the date appears to announce Wallace Shows. Other signs show a larger 23. What is the story?
Searching for “Wallace Shows Harrisonburg” began a remarkable investigation of circus history which revealed the business of advertising and the rivalry of the circus circuit in the late 19th century. This article is Part 2 of a dive into the history surrounding those two days in August when the shows of two circuses came to town: Old John Robinson and The Great Wallace.
The circus days in Harrisonburg ended a week that began with a horse show and included a Court Day—each bringing various types and degrees of commerce. In fact, as the traveling tent shows made their way across the country, businesses clamored for the sales opportunities they would bring. Circuses required flour, feed, and fuel; livery and laundry services; and (as we learned in Part 1) advertising.
Advertisements for tents dominate the industry news and gossip pages for Tent Shows. There are also listings for theatrical supplies: uniforms, paint, snakes, and other wild animals.
The Robinson and Wallace shows created a great stir and, in their aftermath, Harrisonburg tallied the effects and returned to business. Despite the drama and excitement, crowds for both days were reportedly well mannered. The chief of police remarked that the crowds were some of the most orderly for a circus. Show management and policemen were commended for the absence of “fakirs, pickpockets, card sharps [sic], shell men, etc.,” both at the circus grounds and around Harrisonburg. However, the town did not emerge unscathed; community members were called upon to address the dirt, watermelon rinds, old paper, and trash that had accumulated throughout the week. With instructions to “clear away, cleanse, and spread lime,” the general cleanup was considered important to ward off “fever cases” in the fall.
After performing in Harrisonburg, the Old John Robinson Shows finished their north-south Valley route in Staunton. The Great Wallace Shows, which had started in Staunton, traveled north to stops in Woodstock and Winchester. With that, the great Valley “opposition” concluded. Unsurprisingly, each show had its own interpretation of triumph and success—as noted in their respective Route Books.
According to the Robinson Show’s account of nine stops they made on their valley tour, the Wallace Shows accepted defeat in the “opposition” as “all records [were] broken” by the time their performance wrapped in Staunton. However, the Route Book belonging to the Wallace Shows described a scene akin to a battlefield, with Old John Robinson meeting his Waterloo at this “Battle of the Shenandoah.” Wallace then went further to describe the state of Robinson’s legacy, “75 years destroyed in 4 days.” So enthusiastic was the Wallace camp on the pronouncement of their success that an 18-stanza poem called “A One-Sided Circus Battle” was printed in the Route Book. Here’s an excerpt:
The papers the next week a tale did truthfully unfold, that people cared not for wagons and traps seventy-five years old; The Wallace Shows excelled in every feature, was most complete, Robinson’s in neither parade nor circus could compete.
In all, the circus days of 1899 were the two most fabulous, extraordinary, astonishing, astounding, and entertaining days in Harrisonburg’s circus history. Both outfits, replete with never-before-seen manageries, parades, and performers of mystery and skill, delivered what had undoubtedly been a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the people along the “opposition” route. And, although both shows would be sold off to other organizations by 1916, Old John Robinson and The Great Wallace shows surely left their marks on the Valley, as well as the history and evolution of the circus business at large.
P.S. The Millner Library at Illinois State University is the repository for over 300 circus route books—an extraordinary archive! https://digital.library.illinoisstate.edu/digital/search/collection/p15990coll5
