Though they started with one- and five-cent shows, the Ringling brothers would later own a "flock of circuses" eventually combined to form the "Greatest Show on Earth" — a name adopted in 1919 after the Ringling Bros. Circus merger with the Barnum & Bailey Circus. The second-youngest brother John Ringling was instrumental in the deal, purchasing the circus from James A. Bailey's widow in 1907 (cofounder PT Barnum, who started Barnum's American Museum, had died 10 years prior).
After witnessing show animals arrive by boat one early morning in 1870, the Ringling brothers decided to form their own circus. "Alf T. Ringling states that as he and his brothers walked home for breakfast, they talked together for the first time of having a circus of their own," wrote Henry Ringling North in his memoir "Circus Kings: Our Ringling Family Story."
Alf T. Ringling wrote in 1900 that "When the last wagon had rolled slowly up the bank, Al, with a sigh of relaxation, turn to Otto and said: 'What would you say if we had a show like that?' "
The very first show charged an admission price of one cent for the children of McGregor, though the show ended up netting $8.37. The following year, the brothers put on their first "real show," which they consider to be the first official Ringling Brothers circus performance, charging five cents per ticket.
After spending a few years supporting both the family business and their own individual pursuits, the Ringling brothers joined together in 1882 to put on a show called "Ringling Bros. Classic and Comic Concert Co." The production earned just $13, while the costs to run the show totaled $25.90.
The show, which would later turn a huge profit, went by many names after that performance, including "Ringling Bros. Grand Carnival of Fun," "Ringling Bros. Great Double Shows Circus, Caravan, Trained Animal Exposition," and "Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Railroad Shows, Real Roman Hippodrome, 3 Ring Circus and Elevated Stages, Millionaire Menagerie, Museum and Aquarium and Spectacular Tournament Production of Caesar's Triumphal Entry into Rome."