THE BALLOON MAN

One Oswego County man's dream of building his own circus complete with elephants, camels and a train

Mike Greenlar / The Post Standard This abandoned rail car sitting on a rail siding in Parish is the last of seven cars accumulated by Arthur T. Brown, a man who dreamed about building his own circus. In addition to the train cars, he had three elephants and a camel.
Published: Sunday, November 07, 2010,
Dick Case / Post-Standard columnist
This is the story of the “rise and fall of the Arthur T. Brown Great American Circus” in the town of Parish.

It’s come down to an empty circus train car, sitting on a railroad siding, alone and rusting, near the village of Parish in Oswego County.

My colleague, photographer Mike Greenlar, found the car recently when he took a wrong turn in Parish. He was surprised, of course.

Mike later showed me the picture he took and I was intrigued, too. I made a few phone calls and with the help of Parish historian Bridget Swartz, and my friend Tracy Kinne, I found my way to two Parish residents, Mike Cecere and Arthur J. Brown, known as Jack. Jack is the son of Arthur Brown, who died in 1998.
read more at:http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2010/11/one_oswego_county_mans_dream_o.html