Struggles and Triumphs: or, Forty Years' Recollections of P. T. BarnumBarnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor)
General
Struggles and Triumphs: or, Forty Years' Recollections of P. T. Barnum
Barnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor)
Barnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor), 1810-1891; Circus owners -- United States -- Biography
opened in the vicinity of my property. The building progressed slowly,
but surely and substantially. Elegant and appropriate furniture was made
expressly for every room in the house. I erected expensive water works
to supply the premises. The stables, conservatories and out-buildings
were perfect in their kind. There was a profusion of trees set out on
the grounds. The whole was built and established literally “regardless
of expense,” for I had no desire even to ascertain the entire cost. All
I cared to know was that it suited me, and that would have been a small
consideration with me if it had not also suited my family.
The whole was finally completed to my satisfaction. My family removed
into the premises, and, on the fourteenth of November, 1848, nearly one
thousand invited guests, including the poor and the rich, helped us in
the old-fashioned custom of “house-warming.”
When the name “Iranistan” was announced, a waggish New York editor
syllabled it, I-ran-i-stan, and gave as the interpretation, that “I ran
a long time before I could stan’!” Literally, however, the name
signifies, “Eastern Country Place,” or, more poetically, “Oriental
Villa.”
The plot of ground upon which Iranistan was erected, was at the date of
my purchase, in March 1846, a bare field. But I transplanted many
hundreds of fruit and forest trees, some of the latter of very large
growth when they were moved, and thus in a few years my premises were
adorned with what, in the ordinary process of growth, would have
required a whole generation. I have never waited for my trees to grow,
if money would transplant them of nearly full growth at the start.
The years 1848 and 1849 were mainly spent with my family, though I went
every week to New York to look after the interests of the American
Museum. While I was in Europe, in 1845, my agent, Mr. Fordyce Hitchcock,
had bought out for me the Baltimore Museum, a fully-supplied
establishment, in full operation, and I placed it under the charge of my
uncle, Alanson Taylor. He died in 1846, and I then sold the Baltimore
Museum to the “Orphean Family,” by whom it was subsequently transferred
to Mr. John E. Owens, the celebrated comedian. After my return from
Europe, I opened, in 1849, a Museum in Dr. Swain’s fine building, at the
corner of Chestnut and Seventh streets, in Philadelphia.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account