The Circus Comes to Terrell Mural

Terrell was a great circus town, and the railroads made it easy for the circus to come to town. At times, the population of the town would double on circus day.



1893 was a year of great financial panic, so the Sells Brothers Circus (one of the two largest circuses in the country at that time) cut their admission to fifty cents a person and people flooded in. At the time of the parade prior to the circus, there were an estimated 10,000 persons packed on Moore Avenue between Frances and Virginia Streets, on the side streets, and at the railroad depot. As the poster shows, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show came to Terrell with the circus!



At the far end of the mural, there is a depiction of this scene described in an article from the local paper: “W.E. Lumpkin, proprietor of the Splendid Grocery, being well aware of the weakness of country people for cheese and crackers, provided 300 pounds of the former and several boxes of the latter. Before noon, the whole supply was gone! When it is remembered that nearly every grocery establishment in the city was likewise provided it may be conjectured what an immense amount of cheese and crackers was devoured by the crowd on that day.”



Mural painted by Sunny Delipsey.

Photo provided by Prouty Photography in Terrell, Tx.