Barnum’s Hippodrome in flames on the night of December 23, 1873, only a month after it had opened. Grace Chapel and two other adjacent buildings were also destroyed, along with all the exhibits and all the animals but three: one camel and two elephants.
 P.T. Barnum and General Tom Thumb. |
A hand-colored stereo-opticon card showing children of the slums before a wall of advertising posters, including an announcement of the “marriage” of Tom Thumb to fellow midget Lavinia Bumpus, an event which was staged repeatedly for Barnum’s audiences. |
The Christmas Eve edition of The Brooklyn Eagle covered the fire story; because of the printing technology of the day, it was usally a week or more before the illustrated papers appeared with pictures of newsworthy events.
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For more on Barnum, including images of the American Museum and the Bengal tiger being shot by a policeman, see the Barnum’s Museum page on this site. It’s also well worth visiting the wonderful Lost Museum website about Barnum and his first American Museum, which opened in 1841 and also succumbed to fire. The site is a creation of the American Social History Project.