Circus

Newsflash- Havre de Grace, October 12, 1916: Mother camel and her baby broke out of Mr. Mitchell’s field. One ended up on Washington Street and the other on Union Avenue. They attracted a great deal of attention from passing automobiles, many of whom thought they were suddenly transported to a different country.

​

Newsflash- Havre de Grace, January 12, 1928: Babe the Elephant takes sick while on a walk and falls to the ground on Adams Street near the Number 1 firehouse. Spectator gives the elephant’s keeper a pint of corn liquor. Babe drank the medicine and got up and went on her way.

​

Camels on Union Avenue? Elephants taking a leisurely walk in Havre deGrace? While these stories sound like local legends, they really happened! Such incidents were relatively frequent occurrences in Havre de Grace in the first half of the 1900s. This is due to the fact that several circuses had their winter quarters in our little city. Although the circuses had different names, they had one thing in common- Andrew Downie McPhee, AKA Andrew Downie. Originally an acrobat, wire walker, and juggler in several travelling shows, Downie graduated to owner and manager when he opened the LaTena Wild Animal Travelling Show in Havre de Grace. Named after his wife Christina Hewer, a fellow performer who called herself Millie LaTena, the LaTena circus operated from 191 -1917, wintering each year in Havre de Grace. In 1918, Downie purchased the Walter L. Main Circus and combined the two shows. He continued to use Havre de Grace as his winter headquarters through 1924 when he sold the circus and retired. Downie’s retirement was short-lived. In 1926, he began the Downie Brothers Motorized Circus, Museum, and Menagerie. The Downie Brothers Circus was the first circus that was entirely transported by motor vehicle. It, like his other two shows, wintered in Havre de Grace from November through April until 1929, when Downie sold the business.

​

Downie was an active and well-respected citizen of Havre de Grace. In addition to personally contributing to causes like the Susquehanna Hose Company, his circuses contributed greatly to the local economy. In 1923, theHavre de Grace Republican reported that more than sixty men were employed during the winter and over $50,000 was spent to provision the local operation.

 

When he died in 1930, the Aegis lauded him as perhaps the best known showman in the country and a good friend to Havre de Grace.