"19th Century Circus Capital of the Nation"

"19th Century Circus Capital of the Nation". . , The Mabie Brothers U.S. Olympic Circus, then the largest in America, arrived here in 1847 to become the first circus to quarter in the Wisconsin Territory. Between 1847-1894, Delavan was home to 26 different circus companies, making Delavan the “19th Century Circus Capital of the Nation”. , The big elephant reproduced in this monument is a reproduction of the Mabie Brothers U.S. Olympic Circus’s famous killer elephant “Romeo”. In the 1850’s, one of their agents acquired a very large pachyderm that they named “Romeo”. He stood 10 ½ feet tall, and weighed 10,500 pounds, and caused quite a ruckus in town towns the circus visited when he would escape, destroying barns, fences, orchards, building, and in Chicago, a theater. Romeo is also blamed the deaths of at least five handlers. After the end of the Mabie Brother’s Circus, he was purchased by Adam Forepaugh for his circus, where Romeo would spend the rest of his days. He was born about 1848 in Ceylon and died in Chicago in 1872. , On May, 1966 the U.S. Postal Office Department released the five-cent American Circus Commemorative Postal Stamp from the Delavan Post Office. Delavan was selected for the honor by the U.S. Post Office Department after then Delavan Postmaster, W Gordon Yadon, applied for the honor. The face of the clown on the monument is a replica of the American Circus Stamp. The face on the stamp is that of Lou Jacobs, the first living person to have his portrait appear on an American postage stamp.