30504.
Scene on the Fair Ground, 1870. Rockford, IL.
Unknown-WW
40029.
372. Instantaneous View, Wire Walking from Bowman’s Gallery to Court House.
50301.
Unknown wire-walker, Emporia, Kansas.
50304.
Unknown wire-walker, Auburn, NY, Aug. 4th, 1865.
50305.
Unknown wire-walker in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Information from Paul Wolter, head of the local Sauk County Historical Society, and Fred Dahlinger:
This is definitely the 400 Block of Oak Street looking north. The Bank of Baraboo, (now Baraboo State Bank) on the left was built in 1867 and enlarged after the December fire of 1871. The picture can be dated to that time period making this among the earliest known pictures of Baraboo. In the background on the right you can see the fourth story cupola of the Western Hotel. I did some searching on Newspapers.com and I can’t find any reference to an exhibition like this on Oak Street during those years. It surely must have been reported in the paper. At first I thought it was a tightrope walker but it is more like a trapeze act [agreed F. D.]. I searched for the word “aerialist” and came up with an ad for the Dan Costello Circus that came to Baraboo in September of 1870. It might have been an exhibition act to promote the circus. It is a really neat image! The Bank of Baraboo is still operating today. They were the bank for the Ringlings. Dan Castello was a performer out of Racine, Wisconsin, where he had a winter quarters. His name was on the first circus to go by railroad across the recently completed transcontinental railroad in 1869. He partnered with William C. Coup of Delevan, WI in the 1870 Coup & Castello circus on Lake Michigan, moving by ship. That winter they proposed a partnership with P. T. Barnum for 1871 and he jumped at the proposition, going all in. That inaugurated the “Greatest Show on Earth” that has endured until recent times.
50306.
Unknown wire-walker, Peoria, Illinois.
50311.
Unknown wire-walker, Stockton, California.
50312.
Two unknown wire-walkers, unknown location.
50313.
Unknown daredevil, unknown location.
50314.
Unknown wire-walker, probably New Hampshire.
50317.
No. 430. Rope Walker. Unknown wire-walker from the Russell House, Eureka Springs, Arkansas. F.F. Fyler’s photo studio can be seen at the very left.
50318.
Unknown wire-walker in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
50326.
Unknown wire-walker, Flemington, N.J., 1886.
50327.
Magnolia Ave., Eustis, Florida. Unknown wire-walker.
50330.
Unknown wire-walker at Chagrin Falls, Ohio, July 4th, 1898.
50331.
Unknown wire-walker, Public Square, Galion, Ohio.
50334.
Unknown wire-walker at carnival in Mishawaka, Indiana.
50392.
No. 92. Tight Rope Performer over the Rapids. I’m not sure who this is. It might be Stephen Peer.
50400.
No. 92. Tight Rope Performance over the Rapids. Uncertain but this may be Stephen Peer.
50411.
Unknown wire-walker, Niagara.
50412.
Unknown wire-walker, Niagara.
50413.
Unknown wire-walker, Niagara.
50414.
Unknown wire-walker, Niagara.
50415.
Unknown wire-walker, Niagara.
50463.
2635. Rope Walker, Elmwood Park, Syracuse, NY.
50464.
2864. “How is this for High?”
50465.
4021. Trick Rope Walker, Cincinnati Fall Festival, 1901.
50466.
Boulder, 4 July, Looking West.
50467.
17741-Tight Rope Walkers in the Air, Free Entertainment on the “Zone,” Panama-Pacific Int. Exp., San Francisco, Calif.
50469.
Unknown wire-walker.
50470.
Unknown wire-walker.
50471.
Unknown wire-walker.
50472.
A la Blondin.
50473.
A la Blondin.
50474.
A la Blondin.
50475.
Unknown wire-walkers.
50476.
Unknown wire-walkers.
50499.
Danseur de Corde.
50513.
Unidentified wire-walker.
50514.
Unidentified wire-walker. From a post on the Cincinnatus Area Heritage Society FB page: “This might just be our “claim to fame.” We discovered this image in an odd little box of glass plates. The minute we held it up to the light, we knew we were holding something magical. It’s the Brick Store, with the back of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Cincinnatus (completed in 1844) slightly to the left. Oliver and George Kingman, descendants of Cincinnatus pioneer Col. John Kingman, bought the store from Halbert and Bean in 1854. Two years later, in 1856, they sold to HM and Jefferson Kingman. (Note the signage over the front of the store.) We give this image, with the circus-like entertainment that must have come to town in the springtime, when the snow was still on, when the road was still awfully muddy, a circa date of 1856. We’ll have the image enlarged, so it can hang proudly for the public to see…and delight in. This is magical.”
50515.
Unidentified wire-walker.
50522.
Unidentified wire-walker, South Africa.
50524.
High-wire set-up.
50537.
Unidentified wire-walker carrying another man.
50538.
Unidentified wire-walkers.
50541.
Unidentified wire-walker.
50542.
Unidentified wire-walker.
50551.
Unidentified wire-walker,
50563.
This cigar shaped barrel was designed for a trip over the Falls but it was sent over with only a cat as occupant to test its strength on Dec. 13, 1910, and smashed as shown.
50578.
Unidentified wire-walker.