"Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages" and "the greatest show on earth" You all know what those phrases mean, everyone knows what they are for Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey but what if it wasn't the greatest show on earth ( circus show)......what if another show was the greatest......But was taken out by sickness and a tragic event?
Well let me fill you in....Back in the late 1800's early 1900's there were a lot of traveling circuses roaming the USA and the world for that matter.
In 1896 Geneva Ohio had a population of three thousand. They had five churches, two railroads running through the town. There was a bicycle factory, a piano factory, a Metal Wheel Works. Two banks, two groceries, one dry goods store, two clothing establishments, two hardware stores, three jewelers, two bakeries, two meat markets, two drug stores, a flour mill, a laundry, a firm of funeral directors, the telephone system, the electric light company and the Walter Main Circus Headquarters, that noted showman who made his winter quarters in Geneva.
Yep Geneva was home Headquarters to a traveling circus The Walter L Main Circus was right here in Geneva, Ohio. As a matter of fact their winter home was on my road....so named Walter Main Rd...so at one time over 100 years ago I had a circus right on my street.
But like a lot of business sometimes unforeseen things happen and they have to fold up. Like a bad train wrecks and sickness. News paper report about the auction....
A CIRCUS TRAIN IN A WRECK; WALTER H. MAIN'S SHOW BADLY USED UP. SEVEN KILLED AND NINETEEN INJURED The Cars Went Down a Steep Grade and Over an Embankment. LIONS AND TIGERS GOT LOOSE. Fifty Horses Were Killed Outright, and Others Were so Injured that They Will Have to be Killed -- The Elephants and Camels Safe -- Many Animals Es- caped to the Woods -- A Tiger Made for a Farmhouse and Killed a Cow, Being in Turn Killed by the Farmer.
Yes sometimes thing happen that are out of our control. But we still have the history and the memories. And I still live on a street that once housed a famous traveling circus......peace zane
If you are looking to buy, sell, or rent in the Geneva area give me a call or e-mail me
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