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| Beasts and Ballyhoo, The Menagerie Men of Somers by Terry Ariano, continued, page 8 |
| Town of Somers History |
| Timeline - Elephant Hotel - Hachaliah Bailey - Menageries - Wright-Reis Homestead - Historic Properties Somers Historical Society Home Page - Somers History Page |
| _______________________________________________________________________________________________ (40) Macaulay, 142-143. (41) Culhane, 103. (42) Rupert Croft-Cooke & Peter Cotes, Circus, A World History (NY: Macmillan, 1976), 64. |
| The Symbolic Value of the Elephant Hotel
In 1849, The Elephant Hotel was once again the scene of a huge gathering of menagerie and circus proprietors. A large ball to celebrate the anniversary of George Washington’s birthday was held at the building, which was then attached to a wood frame annex that housed a ballroom. Hundreds of people attended from the surrounding areas and as far away as New York City. Elegant young ladies looking for eligible bachelors reputedly flocked there to meet the wealthy circus showmen. The event was chronicled in the New York papers as a spectacular social event where 300 couples are said to have dined and danced in shifts throughout the night. "Westchester, which may be truly styled the empire county, has been agitated to its very center for more than a fortnight past, in consequence of the stupendous arrangements for the annual celebration of Washington’s Natal day, at the Elephant Tavern…The principal masculine personages who figured at the ball were the proprietors of menageries and circus companies with their immediate dependents and associates, most of whom... are hopeless bachelors of the deplorable age of forty-five and upwards who although rich as grand Turks set more value upon a trained horse or elephant than the attractions of lovely women."(40) For all of these individuals, The Elephant Hotel undoubtedly served as Mecca, a destination when one returned to the home village, a familiar place to gather with others who understood the way of life to which they were accustomed. The menagerie business faded after the mid 19th century, being absorbed as one element of the new monster shows that Seth Howes, William Coup, William Cole, Adam Forepaugh, the Sells Brothers, James Bailey, P. T. Barnum and others were putting together. The advent of the railroad introduced large circuses specially designed to move by rail, sometimes “requiring sixty to seventy freight cars, six passenger cars and three engines.”(41) There was fierce rivalry between the traveling circuses, each striving to outdo the other with rhetoric and an onslaught of mudslinging advertisements, called “rat-bills.” (42) The Elephant Hotel remained a central icon in the Somers community, even as the menagerie and excitement of the circus years faded and the business generally fell into disrepute becoming a topic unfit for discussion in polite company. The old brick building remained in the Bailey family but was leased to numerous short-term tenants for various uses. It became a renewed community focal point in 1927 when it was purchased by the Town of Somers to become the Town Hall, or Town House as municipal headquarters are known in Westchester County. With its name boldly painted on its façade and Old Bet perched on her high pedestal, this landmark is a constant reminder for those who know about those early days of the circus and a curiosity that lures the uninitiated visitor inside to discover Somers’s unique and remarkable place in American history. |
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| In the 1920’s the Town of Somers acquired the Elephant Hotel for use as its Town Hall. In 1922 Ringling’s Elephant “Old John” tromped from New York to Somers to lay a wreath at the statue of Old Bet. In 1956 the SHS was incorporated, and was given quarters in the Town Hall. At the same time, the Hudson River Museum who had exhibited the mounted hide of the elephant Tip, once part of Adam Forepaugh’s show, for 29 years, shipped her to the Somers Town Historian who stored Tip in his barn, while selling “shares” to raise money for the fledgling Somers Historical Society. Tip’s tusks, though not currently on view, are now part of the collections at the Somers Historical society. |
| Elephant Old John lays wreath at statue of Old Bet, 1922
Reproduction from This Way To the Big Show, The Life of Dexter Fellows, 1936 |