Emergence of a Tradition.

In 1792 the Englishman John Bill Ricketts produced the first real circus in the United States: a public display that combined trick horse riding, tumbling, juggling, ropedancing, trained animal performances, and the antics of clowns. Ricketts's circus was a great success and attracted many important visitors, including President George Washington. As the United States expanded, the circus moved westward with the expanding population. American showmen soon departed from the traditional European methods of circus presentation, where they were staged in large permanent buildings. American circus owners developed the traveling show to reach a predominantly rural population. For years the circus was an important form of amusement to most Americans, especially in nonurban areas, and it had a rough-and-tumble character in which the quantity of performers and of animals was emphasized.

Barnum's Dominance.

After the Civil War the number of circuses in...