1
00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:02,000
Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

2
00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:12,720
Speaker 1: Heart Radio, Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,

3
00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:16,919
Speaker 1: a show that talies the gains and losses of everyday history.

4
00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:21,520
Speaker 1: I'm Gay Bluesier, and today we're looking at the untimely

5
00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:25,279
Speaker 1: end of P. T. Barnum's earliest success, a one of

6
00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:28,160
Speaker 1: a kind museum that would raise more than a few

7
00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:43,240
Speaker 1: eyebrows today. The day was July eighteen sixty five. P. T.

8
00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:47,760
Speaker 1: Barnum's American Museum in New York City was destroyed in

9
00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:53,120
Speaker 1: a mysterious fire. Located in downtown Manhattan at the intersection

10
00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:56,720
Speaker 1: of Anne Street and Broadway, the five story building was

11
00:00:56,760 --> 00:01:00,840
Speaker 1: once heralded as the most visited place in America. It's

12
00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:05,679
Speaker 1: collection of artifacts, oddities, live performers, and animals drew as

13
00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:10,400
Speaker 1: many as fifteen thousand visitors a day. The museum opened

14
00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:13,480
Speaker 1: its doors in eighteen forty one, and by the time

15
00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:16,120
Speaker 1: it burned to the ground twenty four years later, it

16
00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:21,000
Speaker 1: had welcomed more guests than the entire US population. The

17
00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:25,240
Speaker 1: culprit behind the beloved museum's fiery destruction, and if there

18
00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:30,120
Speaker 1: even was one, is still an open question. Phineas Taylor

19
00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:34,240
Speaker 1: Barnum is best remembered today for his long running partnership

20
00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:39,160
Speaker 1: with circus showman James Anthony Bailey. But before these famous

21
00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:43,199
Speaker 1: hucksters crossed paths, Barnum made his living as an innovative

22
00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:48,000
Speaker 1: museum proprietor. I used the term museum because that's what

23
00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:51,120
Speaker 1: he called it, but most of the exhibits on offer

24
00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:55,400
Speaker 1: weren't like any you'd find in a museum nowadays. In reality,

25
00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:59,400
Speaker 1: the American Museum was a strange mash up of a zoo,

26
00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:03,400
Speaker 1: a cirkus side show, a stage theater, and a cabinet

27
00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:08,839
Speaker 1: of curiosities. Visitors found both entertainment and education within its

28
00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:12,840
Speaker 1: winding halls, but the accuracy of the information they learned

29
00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:16,400
Speaker 1: was a bit of a mixed bag. For example, the

30
00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:22,000
Speaker 1: museum's collection of taxidermied animals offered anatomical insight on exotic

31
00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:26,560
Speaker 1: creatures like lions, elephants, and zebras, but it also featured

32
00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:30,200
Speaker 1: the infamous Fiji mermaid, which was really just the mummified

33
00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:33,160
Speaker 1: head and torso of a monkey sewn onto the tail

34
00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:37,400
Speaker 1: of a fish. Then there were the museum's human attractions,

35
00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:41,519
Speaker 1: most of which would be deemed exploitative today. Among them

36
00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:46,200
Speaker 1: were Josephine Boada Shane, the Bearded Lady. There was also

37
00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:50,280
Speaker 1: a pair of conjoined twins named Chang and Hang, and

38
00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:54,560
Speaker 1: General Tom Thumb, a twenty five inch dwarf who formed

39
00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:59,520
Speaker 1: a lifelong friendship with Barnum. On the slightly more educational side,

40
00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:05,079
Speaker 1: there is a collection of live animals monkeys, snakes, pigs, dogs, hippos,

41
00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:09,600
Speaker 1: an alligator, and even a kangaroo. The museum also boasted

42
00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:13,880
Speaker 1: the country's very first aquarium, which housed two imported white

43
00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:17,240
Speaker 1: whales in a giant tank of water pumped in from

44
00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:20,720
Speaker 1: the East River. There was also a priceless collection of

45
00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:24,080
Speaker 1: objects from the Revolutionary War, as well as a series

46
00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:29,160
Speaker 1: of wax figures representing historical and contemporary celebrities. One of

47
00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:32,760
Speaker 1: the most notable figures on display was that of Confederate

48
00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:37,200
Speaker 1: President Jefferson Davis, who was depicted wearing his wife's dress

49
00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:39,320
Speaker 1: due to a rumor that he had once tried to

50
00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:44,160
Speaker 1: evade capture by disguising himself as a woman. This ever

51
00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:49,320
Speaker 1: growing array of unusual exhibits made Barnum's American Museum one

52
00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:53,120
Speaker 1: of New York's most popular destinations for leisure and culture.

53
00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:56,760
Speaker 1: But alas all good things must come to an end,

54
00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:02,280
Speaker 1: and for Barnum's Museum, it arrived on July eighteen sixty five.

55
00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:06,880
Speaker 1: The fire began around noon and was first discovered by

56
00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:10,800
Speaker 1: an employee stationed in the museum's basement. The flames quickly

57
00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:14,120
Speaker 1: spread to the upper levels, and firefighters soon responded to

58
00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:16,760
Speaker 1: the site of black smoke billowing out of the building.

59
00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:21,400
Speaker 1: They diligently worked to evacuate the many visitors, performers, and

60
00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:25,240
Speaker 1: animals from within the museum, and one fireman in particular,

61
00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:29,400
Speaker 1: William McNamara, is credited with leading out dozens of patrons

62
00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:32,920
Speaker 1: all on his own. This was a crucial task, as

63
00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:36,840
Speaker 1: many guests had a hard time navigating the museum's corridors,

64
00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:40,839
Speaker 1: even when it wasn't full of smoke and flame. Amidst

65
00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:44,680
Speaker 1: all that confusion, many wax figures were rescued as well,

66
00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:48,919
Speaker 1: with several firefighters mistaking them for real people. It's a

67
00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:51,800
Speaker 1: good thing they weren't, though, as the figures were hurled

68
00:04:51,839 --> 00:04:54,719
Speaker 1: to safety from the windows of their exhibit on the

69
00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:59,160
Speaker 1: third floor. And yes, because I know you're wondering, Jefferson

70
00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:04,400
Speaker 1: Davis us among the survivors, Petticoat and all. However, The

71
00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:07,080
Speaker 1: crowd of New Yorkers who had gathered to watch the

72
00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:10,480
Speaker 1: blaze were none too happy to see the former Confederate

73
00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:14,400
Speaker 1: president in their midst. The New York Sun described his

74
00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:18,960
Speaker 1: unwelcome appearance, and their report the following day, it said, quote,

75
00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:23,599
Speaker 1: when the Jefferson Davis petticoated figure was recognized by the crowd,

76
00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:28,400
Speaker 1: it was seized, kicked, knocked, and finally hanged to an

77
00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:31,760
Speaker 1: awning frame in front of St. Paul's Church, amid the

78
00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:37,440
Speaker 1: derisive and contumulus epithets of the persons engaged in this pastime.

79
00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:42,120
Speaker 1: The roof of the museum collapsed less than ninety minutes

80
00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:45,480
Speaker 1: after the fire was first reported. One of the building's

81
00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:49,320
Speaker 1: walls gave way not long after. By two PM, the

82
00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:52,919
Speaker 1: flames had spread to several neighboring buildings, and soon after

83
00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:57,479
Speaker 1: the entire block was ablaze. Luckily, New York had learned

84
00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:01,000
Speaker 1: well from the Great Fire of eighteen thirty five. The

85
00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:04,320
Speaker 1: new water system it had invested in a decade later

86
00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:07,880
Speaker 1: allowed the fire at Barnum's to be contained before it

87
00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:11,400
Speaker 1: could spread to the rest of the city. Amazingly, not

88
00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:14,920
Speaker 1: a single person died in the fire that day, though

89
00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:19,240
Speaker 1: sadly many animals weren't as lucky. The two white whales

90
00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:23,520
Speaker 1: were boiled live in their tanks. Several other mammals tried

91
00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:26,360
Speaker 1: to escape through the windows, only to be shot down

92
00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:30,159
Speaker 1: by police officers who feared the panicked animals might run amuck.

93
00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:34,400
Speaker 1: In this way, the fire proved something that held true

94
00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:38,400
Speaker 1: for the next century and a half. Live animals deserve

95
00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:42,359
Speaker 1: better than the care of P. T. Barnum. As for

96
00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:45,880
Speaker 1: what caused the fire, no one knows for certain. At

97
00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:48,719
Speaker 1: the time, the New York Times attributed the blaze to

98
00:06:48,839 --> 00:06:52,080
Speaker 1: a defective furnace, a theory supported by the fact that

99
00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:56,480
Speaker 1: the fire did start in the basement. However, many historians

100
00:06:56,520 --> 00:06:59,800
Speaker 1: believed the fire was likely an act of arson. For

101
00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:03,240
Speaker 1: all his many faults, P. T. Barnum was a vocal

102
00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:07,039
Speaker 1: supporter of abolition at the time of the fire, which

103
00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:09,440
Speaker 1: happened to be just three months after the end of

104
00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:12,320
Speaker 1: the Civil War. Barnum was also a sitting member of

105
00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:16,680
Speaker 1: the Connecticut Legislature. With all that in mind, it's possible

106
00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:20,200
Speaker 1: the fire was started by Southern sympathizers who didn't approve

107
00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:24,120
Speaker 1: of Barnum's opposition to slavery. It's a theory that seems

108
00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:26,840
Speaker 1: all the more plausible when you consider that a member

109
00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:30,240
Speaker 1: of the Confederate Secret Service had already tried to burn

110
00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:34,280
Speaker 1: down the museum once before. A year earlier, in eighteen

111
00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:38,760
Speaker 1: sixty four, Robert Cobb Kennedy had entered the museum, thrown

112
00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:43,080
Speaker 1: a homemade incendiary device, and strolled right out again. The

113
00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:46,920
Speaker 1: resulting fire caused a good deal of panic and property damage,

114
00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:49,880
Speaker 1: but no one was hurt and the building survived more

115
00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:53,200
Speaker 1: or less intact. The same couldn't be said for the

116
00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:57,360
Speaker 1: museum's second fire in eighteen sixty five. Was that the

117
00:07:57,360 --> 00:08:00,600
Speaker 1: work of a former Confederate back to finish the job,

118
00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:05,040
Speaker 1: or just a tragic accident. Barnum wasn't sure himself, but

119
00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:08,520
Speaker 1: he decided to press his luck either way. The persistent

120
00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:12,160
Speaker 1: showman opened a new museum less than two years after

121
00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:15,960
Speaker 1: losing the first one. Unfortunately, he had chosen to heat

122
00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:21,400
Speaker 1: the building with a largely untested innovation boilers. This proved

123
00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:24,680
Speaker 1: to be Barnum's undoing when one of his boilers exploded

124
00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:28,200
Speaker 1: in eighteen sixty eight, burning the museum to the ground

125
00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:33,199
Speaker 1: for a second time. These ill fated attempts at stationary

126
00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:36,800
Speaker 1: exhibitions eventually pushed Barnum to take his show on the road.

127
00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:41,160
Speaker 1: Together with his partner Bailey, Barnum formed a traveling circus

128
00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:45,599
Speaker 1: in eighty one, but that's a story for another day.

129
00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:49,440
Speaker 1: After Barnum's museum burned down for the first time, the

130
00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:53,440
Speaker 1: New York Times lamented the loss, writing quote, almost in

131
00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:56,920
Speaker 1: the twinkling of an eye, the dirty, ill shaped structure,

132
00:08:57,280 --> 00:09:01,360
Speaker 1: filled with specimens so full of suggestion and merit passed

133
00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:05,200
Speaker 1: from our gaze, and it's like cannot soon be seen again.

134
00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:10,600
Speaker 1: That ultimately proved true, And all things considered, maybe that's

135
00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:13,839
Speaker 1: not such a bad thing. Still. If you're curious to

136
00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:17,040
Speaker 1: learn more about some of the museum's exhibits and even

137
00:09:17,080 --> 00:09:20,880
Speaker 1: see them for yourself, the historians at City University, New

138
00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:26,000
Speaker 1: York have you covered. Through painstaking research, They've reassembled much

139
00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:28,840
Speaker 1: of the museum online. You can pay it a visit

140
00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:32,880
Speaker 1: yourself by going to Lost Museum dot c U and

141
00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:38,760
Speaker 1: y dot E d U. I'm Gay Bluesier and hopefully

142
00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:41,920
Speaker 1: you now know a little more about history today than

143
00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:45,600
Speaker 1: you did yesterday. You can learn even more about history

144
00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:49,520
Speaker 1: by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at T

145
00:09:49,640 --> 00:09:53,360
Speaker 1: d I HC Show. And if you have any comments

146
00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:56,400
Speaker 1: or suggestions, feel free to send them my way at

147
00:09:56,520 --> 00:10:00,040
Speaker 1: this day at I heart media dot com. Thanks a

148
00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:02,480
Speaker 1: Channel or Mays for producing the show, and thank you

149
00:10:02,559 --> 00:10:05,520
Speaker 1: for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow for

150
00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:07,720
Speaker 1: another day in history class