William Washington Cole (1847 – March 10, 1915), was part owner of the

Barnum & Bailey Circus The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (also known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros., the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Barnum & Bailey, or simply Ringling) is an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Ear ...

Biography

He was born in 1847 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to the contortionist William H. Cole and wire walker Mary Ann Cooke. In 1884, he established "W.W. Cole’s New Colossal Shows", which survives to this day, as the

Cole Bros. Circus The Cole Bros. Circus was a medium-sized American circus. It was founded in 1884 as "W.W. Cole's New Colossal Shows", by William Washington Cole. In the 1930s, the circus employed two noted animal trainers, Clyde Beatty and Allen King, both of who ...

. He died on March 10, 1915. He left an estate in excess of $5,000,000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, William Washington 1915 deaths Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Circus owners 1847 births