Arthur Wirtz

From the list of elephant persons Family: Wirtz

☨ Arthur Wirtz
Profession	circus director
Personal details
Born	1901-01-23 in United States
Dead	1983-07-21 in United States
Country	United States

Locations
Title	owner 1948-1949
Location	at Cole Brothers-Clyde Beatty Circus in United States

Title	owner -
Location	at Arthur Wirtzs elephants in United States

Title	owner
Location	at Barnes Brothers Circus in United States

Biography details

Arthur M. Wirtz , circus director in United States

Born 1901-01-23 in United States dead 1983-07-21 in United States .

1945?: The Terrell Jacobs Circus was sold to Arthur Wirtz who used the equipment to form the "Barnes Brothers Circus". Terrell Jacobs remained with the show, working the animal act.
1948: Bought Cole Brothers-Clyde Beatty Circus
1950: Norris, Wirtz and Hopalong Cassidy, the then owners of the Cole Brothers Circus, merged with the Barnes Brothers Circus.

Arthur Michael Wirtz (January 23, 1901 – July 21, 1983) was a powerful figure in sports and arena operation. He was the owner of Chicago Stadium, Olympia Stadium in Detroit, the Bismarck Hotel in Chicago, the Chicago Black Hawks, and the Chicago Bulls. He was the father of the late Black Hawks owner Bill Wirtz, and grandfather of current Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Wirtz went into sports and arena ownership because of his real estate investments. He was a real estate salesman in Chicago after graduating from the University of Michigan in 1923.

Wirtz was an important showbiz figure with his presentation of the Sonja Henie Ice Show, which toured arenas for many years. He was also involved with the Henie-produced ice show which played the old Center Theatre in New York for several seasons.

Wirtz took over the ownership of Ice Follies and Holiday on Ice which he later sold to Irvin & Kenneth Feld.

He was a major factor in the growth of the National Hockey League, through his ownership of the Chicago Black Hawks. He and James D. Norris purchased the near bankrupt franchise in 1952 and though it went through rough moments, Wirtz and Norris turned the franchise around and won back the fans they had lost. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1971.

Arthur Wirtz died of Cancer at age 82.

*wikipedia

Arthur Wirtz is mentioned on 2 other person pagesTerrell Jacobs, Zack Terrell,

Arthur Wirtz is mentioned on 3 location pagesArthur Wirtz, Barnes Brothers Circus, Cole Brothers-Clyde Beatty Circus ,

Arthur Wirtz is mentioned on 2 elephant record pagesBig Jenny (Jennie), Wilma,

Reference list

References

Koehl, Dan, (2025). director Arthur M. Wirtz in United States. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 4 April 2025 at https://www.elephant.se/person.php?id=3471. (archived at the Wayback machine)

Sources used for this article is among others:

Selected publications

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