Circus of Pepin and Breschard

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The equestrian theatre company of Pépin and Breschard arrived in the United States of America from Madrid, Spain (where they had performed during the 1805 and 1806 seasons), in November of 1807. They toured that new country until 1815. From their arrival until the present day, what is now known as the traditional circus has had a presence in North America.

Victor Pépin and Jean Baptiste Casmiere Breschard's troupes built circus theatres from Montreal to New Orleans. The oldest continuously operating theatre in the English speaking world, The Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, PA, was constructed by Pépin and Breschard in 1809. Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette attended the opening of a renovated Walnut in 1812.

During the early 1800s, the word "circus" was used primarily to indicate the equestrian theatre building itself.

Pépin and Breschard introduced at least one Shakespearean play to the US and brought the circus to such frontier cities as Pittsburgh, PA, where Benjamin Latrobe designed and constructed a circus for them in 1814.^[1]

Pépin and Breschard are referenced in the United States Congressional Record of 1810. ^[2]

Victor Pépin having been born in what is now the state of New York, U.S.A., was the first American (USA) to own and operate a circus in his native country. The theatrical company of Pépin and Breschard thus can be considered the First American Circus.

[edit] External links

• http://www.circusinamerica.org/public/corporate_bodies/public_show/85

[edit] References