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Sunday, August 4, 2013

CIRCUS HISTORY---

Century ago, many circus performances called Petersburg home

 
Dan Kelly and a two-man giraffe. Courtesy Jan Costello
from  sj-r.com
By Tara McClellan McAndrew, Correspondent
Aug 03, 2013
Petersburg, IL--In a corner of the Menard County Historical Society Museum, on the Petersburg square, are hints of a little-known era of the town’s past.

They are photos and memorabilia of circus performers, which seem out of place given the locale’s famed figures — Abraham Lincoln, Ann Rutledge and writer Edgar Lee Masters. But, between about 1880 and 1920, this prairie village was a big player in the big top world.

“Petersburg became one of the most significant training centers for circus performers in the country,” wrote Illinois circus historian Steve Gossard in an online article about former Petersburg performer Julia Lowande.
 
 
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Harry Lamkin
It all started with a local boy named Harry Lamkin who ran away with the circus. Lamkin’s half-brother, Edward Shipp, related the story in the Dec. 15, 1898, Bloomington Pantagraph:
“One of the very best names known in circus annals is that of Harry Lamkin, who was born and raised in Petersburg. To him and his influence can be directly traced whatever fame this city has relative to circuses. When he was 13 years of age he ran away and joined the Michael Connor wagon show. This was in 1868. He soon became an expert bare-back rider … .”
According to “The Story of the Ring Barn,“ a paper about Petersburg’s circus history written in 1970 by Louise Basso (available at the historical society’s museum), the wagon show performed in Petersburg. Lamkin, whose mother was supposedly named by Abraham Lincoln, left with the show.
“Harry Lamkin was a foot juggler and all around performer. He’d lay on his back and juggle barrels, tables, any number of things,” according to Gossard, who works at Illinois State University’s Milner Library, which houses a vast collection related to Illinois’ circus past.
Read more: http://www.sj-r.com/top-stories/x369944399/Century-ago-many-circus-performances-called-Petersburg-home#ixzz2azt0kRW5

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