Terrell Jacobs Circus Barns

 barn, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places

Terrell Jacobs won fame as the “Lion King,” for his record-setting act involving 52 lions, tigers and leopards in one arena. In a Ringling Bros./Barnum & Bailey poster of the 1930s, a dapper bow-tied Jacobs appears with upraised crop, surrounded by roaring lions.

Jacobs worked for several well-known circuses and as an independent act before starting his own short-lived circus in Peru. He kept six elephants in the large U-shaped elephant barn, built in 1940. In the more elaborate cat barn, lion and monkey cages line the walls, with painted decoration by Art Johns. The barn also holds a training circle and a hippo tank.

Dorothy Kelly and her late husband bought the Jacobs quarters in the 1950s when the family operated a circus act for hire. The Kellys retired, and the barns sat unused for decades.

The cat and elephant barns were listed as part of the "Terrell Jacobs Circus Winter Quarters" on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. As of 2019 the elephant barn (the southern structure shown here) is marked for demolition. The cat barn needs extensive restoration to avoid the same fate.

www.indianalandmarks.org/2019/05/demo-terrell-jacobs-ci...