Peru burning

In November of 1941, the old winter quarters of the American Circus Corporation in Peru, Indiana was finally to be closed and put up for sale.  In order to dispose of some of the bulky equipment which had been stored there, Ringling management, who had bought the farm and all of its contents, ordered that over 120 circus wagons be burned. 

This event and others like it stand out in the minds of many circus fans as the death knell of the old-time circus.  It was a striking representation of just how much the circus world had changed.  Once a cornerstone of the daily operations of a circus, the wagons had become obsolete and were regularly being destroyed.  Many of the wagons had been in storage for over a decade and were missing parts. 

The event was also significant to the town of Peru.  The circus had become a part of their identity as a community, and it had been swept away in the name of progress, leaving only remnants of the once proud (and profitable) enterprise.

Though those responsible claimed that the wagons were destroyed in order to donate the scrap iron to the war effort, many circus fans have pointed out that the burning came two weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor.