Charles Edward Ringling was one of the Ringling brothers, who owned the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
Background
Charles Edward Ringling was the son of August Frederick Rüngeling, an immigrant to the United States at the age of twenty-one, and Marie Salome (Juliar). An ancestor of the family named Richelin, a Huguenot refugee from France, settled, in the seventeenth century, in Hanover, Germany, where the name gradually became metamorphosed into Rüngeling. August F. Rüngeling's sons, the showmen, still further altered it for euphony's sake to Ringling. Charles Ringling was born in McGregor, Iowa, and was one of seven brothers. Of these, August G. (1854 - 1907) and Henry (1869 - 1918) seem never to have had much to do with the circus business. The father, a harness maker, removed with his family to Baraboo, Wisconsin, when Charles was a child.
Career
A few years later, in 1882, five of the brothers, Otto (1858 - 1911), Albert C. (1852 - 1916), Alfred T. (1861 - 1919), Charles, and John (the only surviving brother in 1934), began giving amateurish little concerts, first in their own and then in neighboring towns. Two could dance, two could play musical instruments (Charles was a fiddler), and one sang.
They at first called their troupe the Classic and Comic Concert Company, and later the Ringling Brothers Classic and Comic Concert Company. But with the circus business as their ultimate goal, they trained themselves in other accomplishments, Albert becoming a capable juggler and John a clown. The first full season of their company left them with $300 net profit, or $60 for each of the five, and it is said that they invested all the money in evening suits and top hats.
In 1884 they organized their first little circus, which traveled by wagon, a trained horse and a dancing bear being the only animal performers or exhibits. They had the veteran showman "Yankee" Robinson, as partner, but he died before the first season was over. For several years their progress was slow.
It was not until 1888 that they acquired an elephant; but from that time on their business grew rapidly. In 1890 they first used railway cars. Their success is said to have been due in no small degree to the genius of Charles Ringling.
By 1900 they had one of the largest shows on the road, and began absorbing other circuses, beginning with John Robinson's. In 1904 they acquired a half-interest in the Forepaugh-Sells show, and, two years later, complete control. In 1907, after the death of James A. Bailey, they bought the Barnum & Bailey aggregation for $410, 000, and could truthfully claim to possess the world's greatest circus. Their winter quarters which had, up to that time, remained at their home town, Baraboo, were now removed to the old Barnum quarters at Bridgeport, Connecticut But a spacious theatre, a hospital and other civic improvements given by them remained as memorials to them in Baraboo. They had established winter homes in Sarasota, Florida, after attaining prosperity, and their coming brought that little town many benefits.
He died at Sarasota of cerebral hemorrhage.
Achievements
Charles organized the Charles Ringling Company, which had much to do with the enlargement and beautification of the municipality - building Ringling Boulevard and a civic center around it as well as a large winter resort hotel.
He organized and was president of the Ringling Bank and Trust Company, and was a prominent factor in the realty development of Florida's west coast. But the circus was his first love, and each year he spent most of the time from spring until autumn in traveling with it.
Connections
He married Edith Conway of Baraboo and they had a son and a daughter.
