When the circuses came to town, elephants were the highlight of the exciting circus parades.

An elephant named “Jumbo” was the most popular at the time. Jumbo was the biggest elephant in captivity having been purchased by P.T. Barnum for his circus.

On June 2, 1919 the Bath Daily Times made mention that in the late 1800s, when Barnum’s circus was in Bath, Jumbo, after testing its strength with its forefoot, refused to walk over the wooden railroad bridge on Oak Grove Avenue. New iron girders for the railroad bridge were eventually ordered and put down to make the bridge stronger.

Jumbo was 12 feet tall at the shoulder weighing more than 12,000 pounds. His trunk was 7 feet long. He had a huge appetite, and every day he ate 200 pounds of hay, a barrel of potatoes, two bushels of oats, 15 loaves of bread and lots of onions. He also drank several pails of water. According to Wikipedia, if his trainer thought Jumbo was ailing, he was given a gallon or two of whiskey.

The final performance of Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey circus elephants occurred recently in Providence Rhode Island.

American views on animal performances have evidently changed since 1892 — and no longer will Bath bridges be tested by elephants.

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Article contributed by the Bath Historical Society: bathhistorical.com

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