Brothers Al, Otto, Alf T., Charles, and John Ringling saw their first penny circus show in Iowa as kids and immediately knew what they wanted to do with their lives. The five first took to performing skits and juggling routines in town halls around Wisconsin, gaining quickly in size and stature. At first they were just travel from town to town in small caravans, but in less than a decade they would have their own train to transport them from state to state — the greatest traveling show of its day.

On this day, May 19, in 1864, the Ringling Brothers gave their first full-fledged circus show in Wisconsin, complete with the well-known showman Yankee Robinson.

Soon the two remaining Ringling brothers joined the act, and their troupe changed their name to “Ringling Bros. United Monster Shows, Great Double Circus, Royal European Menagerie, Museum, Caravan, and Congress of Trained Animals.” At that time their “congress of trained animals” was still rather small, consisting of a pony and donkey, but by the 1910s they had more than 300 horses, 26 elephants, 16 camels and a menagerie of other animals that took 92 rail cars to transport.