John Nicholas Ringling is the most well-known of the seven Ringling brothers, five of whom merged the Barnum & Bailey Circus with their own Ringling Bros World's Greatest Shows to create a virtual monopoly of traveling circuses and helped shape the circus into what it is today. In addition to owning and managing many of the largest circuses in the United States, he was also a rancher, a real estate developer and
Background
John was born in McGregor, Iowa, the fifth son in a family of seven sons and a daughter born to German immigrants, Marie Salomé Juliar and August Ringling (a farmer and harness maker). The original family name was "Ruengling". Five of those sons worked together to build a circus empire.
Career
The brothers were attracted to carnival life, and when John was at an early age, he and four of his brothers organized the Classical Concert Company, later the Ringling Brothers Comedy Concert Company and finally the Ringling Brothers Circus.
John was a featured clown in the circus; he also acted as advance agent and was in charge of transportation. His abilities in this phase of circus organization contributed greatly to a rapid success, and in 1894 the brothers ventured east to Pennsylvania and Maryland.
They had divided the country into two sections to avoid conflict with the Barnum and Bailey Circus, but in 1907 they purchased that concern and two years later the combined Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus made its first appearance at Madison Square Garden in New York City, which then became their headquarters.
He died in New York City on December 2, 1936.
Achievements
Connections
In 1905, John married Mable Burton. His wife, Mable, died in June 1929 and he remarried on June 19, 1930 to Emily Haag Buck in Jersey City, New Jersey. John and Emily Haag Buck divorced on July 6, 1936.