Adam Forepaugh

Adam John Forepaugh (February 28, 1831 - January 22, 1890) was an American entrepreneur, businessman, and circus owner.

Forepaugh owned and operated a circus from 1865 through 1890 under various names including Forepaugh's Circus, The Great Forepaugh Show, The Adam Forepaugh Circus, and Forepaugh & The Wild West.

Forepaugh was born into poverty in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to John A. Forepaugh, a butcher, and Susannah Heimer. He began working in a butcher shop at age 9, earning just $4 a month . After a short time Forepaugh "ran away" to Ohio where he got into cattle appraising and managing stage lines. He moved to New York City and began a business dealing in horses and other livestock. Eventually he became the largest purveyors of horses in the state, and earned a reputation as an expert judge of horses. He made a fortune during the Civil War selling horses to the U.S. government.

In 1864, Forepaugh sold 44 horses to John V. "Pogey" O'Brien for $9,000 so he could start the Tom King Excelsior Circus. When O'Brien could not repay the loan, Forepaugh assumed partial ownership of the circus, getting him into the circus business, where he would make his most lasting impression. The next year, he and O'Brien purchased the Jerry Mabie Menagerie and created two circuses with their combined assets: The Great National Circus and the Dan Rice Circus. Forepaugh soon sold the Great National Circus and put the Dan Rice Circus under his own name.

Forepaugh was different from most of his fellow circus operators. Already independently wealthy when he entered the circus business, he was much less a showman and much more a businessman—a stark contrast to P. T. Barnum and the Ringling Brothers. He was intimately involved in all aspects of the circus business. He would regularly seat himself at the main entrance into the circus, a vantage point that ensured that his face was seen by all and from which, it was rumored, he could estimate the night's receipts to hold his employees accountable. Through the 1870s and into the 1880s, Forepaugh and P. T. Barnum had the two largest circuses in the nation. Forepaugh actually had more animals than Barnum and generally paid higher salaries to the much-favored European talent. The two men constantly fought each other over rights to perform in the most-favored venues.

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