Sells Brothers Circus in United States


Sells Brothers Circus


Typecircus
Owner 1871-1896: Lewis Sells
1871-1896: Peter Sells Jr.
1871-1896: Ephraim Sells
Founded1871
First elephant arrived1873
Opened for public1872
Closed down1896
Address Sellsville
Place Columbus, Ohio
Country United States
Directors: Hannah Sells (assistant director)
1871-1884: Peter Sells (assistant director)
Key People 1874: Ferdinand Tourniaire (animal trainer)
1883-1891: Emory Stiles (animal trainer)
1895-1896: William Chambers (menagerie superintendent)
Veterinarians
Elephant department
Head keepers
of elephants		 1893-: William Badger
(elephant superintendent)
1893-: John Gibson
(assistant elephant superintendent)
1891-1893: Jerry Ward
(elephant superintendent)
George Arstingstall, elephant man
Joseph Beatty, elephant superintendent
Elephant keepers
Record history
History of updates2024-02-04
Latest document update2024-02-04 14:43:44
Google map
Relevant literature
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Description

Sells Brothers Circus, located at Sellsville, in Columbus, Ohio, United States , was founded in 1871, opened for public in 1872 and the first elephant arrived in 1873. Sells Brothers Circus closed down in 1896.


Comments / picturesThe brothers Peter Sells, Ephraim Sells, Allen Sells and Lewis Sells (grandsons of german immigrant Ludwig Sells) founded a circus in 1871, initially based on Cannonball George Richards and some horse acts.

Allen Sells was the manager; Lewis was assistant manager and superintendent, with Ephraim as treasurer and superintendent of tickets. Peter was the "front man" for the show.

Records about Sells Brothers Circus from Bob Cline

Sells Bros. Circus ( Ephriam, Lewis and Peter Sells - owners )

Babe Asian Female 1879 Went to the Adam Forepaugh / Sells Bros. Circus ( leased to various shows in her career )
Babylon Asian Female 1887 Sold to Ringling Bros. Circus
Big Sid Male Asian 1878 to 1895 Went to the Adam Forepaugh / Sells Bros. Circus
Dutch Asian Female 1878 to 1895 Went to the Adam Forepaugh / Sells Bros. Circus
Empress Asian Female 1872 to 1879 Went to Batchelder and Doris
Fannie African 1887 Sold to Ringling Bros. Circus
Gypsy 1889
Lalla Rookh Asian Female 1878 to 1880 Disposition - unknown
Mike Male African 1878 to 1895 Went to the Adam Forepaugh / Sells Bros. Circus
Queen Asian Female 1878 to 1895 Went to the Adam Forepaugh / Sells Bros. Circus
Topsy African Female 1878 to 1895 Went to the Adam Forepaugh / Sells Bros. Circus
Unknown African 1887 Died in Baraboo City
Zip African 1887

Bob Cline, Cheraw, South Carolina, United States. Autor of the book Americas elephants


1873: They bought their first elephant 1873.
1875: 7 elephants, the largest number of elephants on any show in USA. (Hoage, Deiss, From Menagerie to Zoological Park in the Nineteenth Century, page 103)
1878: "Sells Bros bought 5 elephants last week and sent them west." (Source: Clipper for Feb 16, 1878 (p.375))
1883: Sells bros had eight elephants. (Hoage, Deiss, From Menagerie to Zoological Park in the Nineteenth Century, page 103)
1887: Sells bros offered six african elephants for sale, three of which were very large. (Richard Reynolds writes on William Woodcocks blog that 4 of them were: Mike, Topsy, Fannie and Zip)
1888: Fanny and Babylon (Babe) sold to Ringling Bros. Circus
1890: the Sells Brothers Circus was the second largest circus in America.
1891: 13 elephants. source.
1891: visiting Australia in 1891. 13 elephants.
1895: James A. Bailey acquired one-third interest in the circus.
1896: the Barnum & Bailey Show, already the owners of the Adam Forepaugh show, bought an interest in Sells Brothers show, and combined the two under the name of Adam Forepaugh & Sells Brothers Great Consolidated Shows.
1896: The menagerie was large and included African elephants Mike and Topsy, Asian elephants Sid, Queen, Dutch, Babe, Rubber, Betts, Romeo, Vic, Dick and John. source (total 12)
1898: Ephraim Sells, the eldest brother, died in 1898. After Ephraim\'s death, James Bailey of Barnum and Bailey and W.W. Cole (of Cole Brothers Circus) each acquired a quarter interest in the business.
1904: After Peter Sells and Allen Sells died in 1904, Lewis Sells sold the remaining shares of the show to Bailey for $150,000 cash in 1905.

References for records about Sells Brothers Circus

Recommended Citation

Koehl, Dan (2024). Sells Brothers Circus, Elephant Encyclopedia. Available online at https://www.elephant.se/location2.php?location_id=687. (archived at the Wayback machine)

Sources used for this article is among others:



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