Metropolitan growth

Not only had the circuses become too massive to move, the cities in which they were playing were expanding.  Lots of land which were large enough for the circus to set up on became harder to come by, and were further from the downtown areas where the parades were held.  The two advantages of the railroad circus: time and energy to setup and parade, and the ability to infinitely expand, were now both working against it.  Parade participants grew weary from the long trek from and to the showground.  The mile-long string of horse-drawn wagons now had to fight trolley cars and auto traffic.  In addition, the city streets were no longer suited for horse-drawn traffic.  The wooden wheels of the heavy wagons left deep ruts in asphalt on hot summer days, causing the city's parade fees to skyrocket.