Circus and Chautauqua Tents

The Independent, MARCH 29,2007

Before the railroad came through town, the circus arrived by horse and wagon. Probably Grizzly Adams came through alone with some of his menagerie, or with the Henry C. Lee circus in route to and from Stockton and San Francisco. The big top was set up on an empty town lot, and probably many Livermore area residents enjoyed the show. When railroads were built, the circus was no longer limited by size or distance. Bamum’s first circus train in 1872 consisted of 65 railroad cars, which included long lines of flat cars holding ornately carved parade wagons, wild animal cages, chariots, and the steam calliope.

High school teacher May Nissen, born in 1884, remembered when the circus train would come to Livermore once a year when she was young. She described the event in an interview with Joan Boer in 1980. Every kid in town came down to watch the train unload and the big top go up. School was let out for the free parade. It started with the steam calliope playing music, then the trapeze performers, all dressed in pink and white and gold, sometimes riding on an elephant; next came the tigers and lions and some monkeys. “Cold shivers of delight ran through us when a lion would roar.”

According to an advertisement and an article in the Echo on 9 September 1897, the street parade would take place at 10 a.m., rain or shine, with a grand golden steam calliope leading the way with music, a band of Scottish bagpipers, a caravan of massive carved animal cages, gilded chariots, mounted knights and ladies, clowns, camels, herds of elephants, and a breathtaking collection of fine horses. Performances were at 2 and 8 p.m.; admission was 500 and children paid half price. This was the Walter L. Main Circus, and the advertisement said that this was their first West Coast tour.

As recently as April 1920 the Al. G. Barnes Four-Ring Wild Animal Circus arrived in Livermore loaded on two circus trains with 52 special cars, at least three calliopes, and six concert bands. The menagerie boasted 1,200 performing animals, including 550 horses and ponies, Lotus the largest hippopotamus in captivity, 30 lions, and 20 tigers. A two-mile street parade started at 10:30, and performances were given at 2 and 8 p.m. in the main tent.

Another traveling entertainment that came to Livermore and used a tent for public performances was the educational Chautauqua group. In 1916 the khaki-colored Chautauqua big top was set up for the first time in Livermore on an empty lot at First and N Streets. Season tickets for the week of May 27 to June 2 cost $2.50 before the first performance; at the door the cost was $3. Each day brought a variety of music—four soloists from the International Opera Company, a Russian violinist, the New York City Marine band, a male quartet, the Kaffir Boys Choir from South Africa.

The evening entertainment was a series of lectures on widely different topics: “The Forces That Failed,” about the war in Europe; “The New Civic Spirit,” about municipal government; “Take the Sunny Side,” a humorous lecture; a lecture-recital about the French-Canadians; a lecture and motion picture about exploring the Antarctic; stories from Kentucky told in local dialect; a lecturer from the International Lyceum Association; and “Tallow Dips,” given by an orator “of exceptional ability, a speaker you will never forget.”

Fifty Livermore businesses had guaranteed the sale of 600 season tickets to attract the entertainers. Since the population of Livermore at the time was only about 2,000, that was a significant percentage of attendees.

The Chautauqua Movement was established in Lake Chautauqua, New York, in 1874 and continues today in that town. By 1909 it had spread throughout the country to some 103 local centers designed to bring culture and education to adults. The first Chautauqua presentations in Livermore were by the Ellison-White Chautauqua based in Portland, Oregon, which went from town to town on a summer circuit.

After World War I the Radcliffe Chautauqua with headquarters in Washington, D C., brought three-day engagements in 1920 and 1921. In 1920 the tent was set up at the comer of L and First Street near the Valley Hotel. The following year the Chautauqua events took place in Livermore’s Sweeney Opera House, with its comfortable seats, rather than in a tent.

A Herald article conjectured that the mobile informal college was “largely a victim of the auto, which enabled small town and farm folks to conveniently attend motion picture shows and other forms of entertainment. The radio was also a factor. With the advent of the radio at home and the auto there was no longer a demand for the annual visits of the Chautauqua.”

Although the movement gradually retreated hack to its original Lake Chautauqua center, where it is still a major institution, its lasting influence on American education is seen in the development of adult evening schools, city recreation courses, university extension courses, correspondence courses, classes for senior citizens, “great books” discussion groups, and Elderhostel.