John Bill Ricketts

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John Bill Ricketts, aka, Breschard, the Circus Rider, by Gilbert Stuart

John Bill Ricketts, an Englishman who brought the first modern circus to the United States, began his theatrical career with Hughes Royal Circus in London in the 1780s coming over from England in 1792 to establish his first circus in Philadelphia.

He built a circus building in Philadelphia in the fall of 1792 in which he conducted a riding school. After training a group of Pennsylvania horses, he began on April 3, 1793, a series of exhibitions two and three times a week.