This Week in Odessa History

Throughout the 1920s, Odessa was a stop on the circus circuit. It wasn’t the big time, like Barnum & Bailey or Ringling Brothers, but a medium-size show, which played up and down the West Coast.

Odessa was a favored stop because it was halfway and the largest town between Spokane and Wenatchee on the Great Northern Railway, and a nonstop haul between those two cities was a little too long for the circus train.

It provided a great show, including three rings with lions and clowns and trapeze artists.

Following is The Odessa Record’s report of June 11, 1920, of the circus which was about to appe...