Carl Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus: Season of 1918

The season of 1918 was the last year of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus as a big show with the emphasis on “big.” After that season, the six pole big top with three rings, two stages and hippodrome track plus the many other tents that had been carried on as many as forty-nine cars were no more. While from 19 I9 on it was a large show only once more was it the equal of the 1918 show and that was in 1934.

The 1918 Hagenbeck-Wallace train consisted of forty-nine cars, one less than had been used in 1917. These cars were all of wooden construction. There were twenty-five 60 foot flats equipped with steel truss rods. The flats carried 105 wagons. The stocks were twelve in number with the same wood and truss rod construction. In addition, there was one storage car. Nine sleeping cars were used including the owner’s private car. Two advertising cars were used. The train usually was transported in three sections, although there were a few occasions when it moved in four sections in very hilly country.

The show received national publicity with an article appearing in the February 9, 1918 issue of Scientific American. The story told of the canvas wagons designed and built by William H. Curtis. The article read: “Keeping a circus on time–hauling the tents down and making the jump to the next town in less than twelve hours–is no small amount of work, especially if the night be rainy and the next show town a long distance away. An invention that is calculated to save from one to six hours of work every night is a revolving tent wagon, built by W. H. Curlis of West Baden, Indiana. Two circus companies have used the invention this past summer, and so successful have the results been that several others are having machines built this winter.