Terrell Jacobs

Terrell M. Jacobs, acknowledged one of the worlds greatest wild animal trainers of all time, and an early member of the Circus Historical Society was a fixture on multiple circuses in the first half of the 20th Century. Among the circuses who featured Terrell Jacob’s Lions and Tigers for over Forty years were Al G. Barnes, Sells-Floto, Christy Bros., Lee Bros., Robbins Bros., John Robinson, Gentry Bros., Howes Great London, Gilbert Bros., Holland Classical Circus, Austin Bros., Arthur Bros., Barnes Bros., Cole Bros., and the Al G. Kelly-Miller Bros. Circus.

After leaving the Ringling show Jacobs started animal show which he exhibited at fairs and large carnivals. Bill Woodcock presented the elephants on the show and trained a new elephant handler Fred Logan who went on to become a great elephant presenter in his own right.

In 1944 Jacobs took out his own truck show the "Terrell Jacobs Wild Animal Circus" the show however was short lived. In 1945 Jacobs was divorced from his wife "Dolly" and forced to sell the circus. The show was sold to Arthur Wirtz who used the equipment to form the "Barnes Brothers Circus". Jacobs remained with the show, working the animal act.

Terrell Jacobs Circus Winter Quarters, also known as Pipe Creek Wild Animal Farm and Circus Winter Headquarters, was a historic circus complex and national historic district located at Pipe Creek Township, Miami County, Indiana. The district encompassed five contributing buildings, three contributing sites, three contributing structures, and seven contributing objects related to the circus headquarters. Most notable are the Terrell Jacobs Cat Barn (1939, 1951), Terrell Jacobs Elephant Barn (1945, 1950), and the Circus Drive-In Restaurant (1967). Other notable contributing resources are the Elephant Rock (1901, 1940), Jacobs Bridge (c. 1940), six Cole Brothers Circus Wagons (c. 1950), creek landscape and Wallace Grotto (1944–1949), and the wild animal graveyard (c. 1945–1970). The property was the site of the birth of Tony, a white tiger.[2] In 2020 the Indiana Department of Transportation slated the structurally unsound elephant barn for demolition.

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