Saturday, December 24, 2011

Foundation of The Elephant House For The Barnum and Bailey Circus on a Golf Course in Oak Ridge, N. J.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

This was the quarters of the 1917 R. T. Richards Circus, operated by Alf T. Ringling's son, Richard. The site had nothing to do with Barnum & Bailey.

Wade G. Burck said...

Anonymous,
Thank you for the correction. Is it the foundation of the elephant barn?

Wade

Anonymous said...

The Richards show reportedly carried five bulls in the charge of Jimmy Dooley. Presumably Buckles knows all about him and the identity of the five.

The question is whether the bulls were ever lodged at Oak Ridge. I don't know, that would take some searching. The quarters were covered in an article in Bandwagon, May-June 1967.

Wade G. Burck said...

Anonymous,
Thank you. I appreciate that it will take some searching. That said, when can I expect the result's of what you have found out about elephants staying in this barn/stable. :)

Wade

BK said...

Very close on the Barnum Elephant house. This is actually part of the sprawling Ringling Estates. The actual home/mansion of Alf T. Ringling. His estate had many out buldings which housed the "Great Cats" along with many other animals. History is somehat vauge on the actual build of the "Elephant house" but yes elephants were actually house there. Just google Ringling Mansion(or Bros.) Oakridge, NJ and you will find a wealth of info

BK said...

You will also find some great info hear. Much of the info came from one of the craftsman whom helped build the estate.
Oak Ridge Mansion - history
The Alf T. Ringling Estate, Winterquarters of R. T. Richards Circus, at Oak Ridge, N. J.
Famous Circus Landmarks

http://oakridgemansion.blogspot.com/2007/01/oak-ridge-mansion-history.html

Wade G. Burck said...

BK,
Thank you for sharing this additional information, it's greatly appreciated.

Wade

Paul Havemann said...

The Ringling circus is mentioned in several issues of Bandwagon museum, which are (now) happily online:

Circus Baseball Teams
http://www.circushistory.org/Bandwagon/bw-1967Sep.htm
"Photo: The 1905 Ringling Bros. team is shown with its manager Doc. Kealey. Reno McCree, second from right, first row, was captain and pitcher. Pfening Collection."

Circus Wagon History File
http://www.circushistory.org/Bandwagon/bw-1963Sep.htm
"Features some of the wagons on display at the Ringling Circus Museum. Bandwagon, Vol. 7, No. 5 (Sep-Oct), 1963, pp. 17-19."