Hartford COUNTY · Disasters & remembrance
The fire, rescue work, compensation and Northwood burials: explore the 1944 disaster through photographs, first-person records and a carefully dated source trail.
Historical focus · 1944–2019, with later remembrance
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July 6, 1944
Spectators escaping the burning circus tent — July 6, 1944
Associated Press / Wikimedia Commons
Public domain in the United States (copyright not renewed), as documented on the Wikimedia Commons file page.
Original source · Reuse termsCirca 1945 — Sarasota, Florida
Emmett Kelly holding a mirror while applying clown makeup in Sarasota, Florida, circa 1945; this is not a photograph of the Hartford fire.
Joseph Janney Steinmetz; State Library and Archives of Florida / Wikimedia Commons
State Library and Archives of Florida image, JJS1384, released through Flickr Commons with no known copyright restrictions; Commons also identifies the Florida Photographic Collection public-domain basis. Unaltered source file.
Original source · Reuse termsFOLLOW THE ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS
Continue exploring photographs and documents in the archives that hold them. These links open external collections, with their own image credits and reuse terms.
Scene: July 6, 1944; Created Date field: 1956
Library record for Ralph Emerson’s photograph, with the original scene date and separate later catalog date.
Ralph Emerson; Associated Press; Hartford History Center, Hartford Public LibraryJuly 6, 1944
An east-side view shows flames crossing the roof and people near the canvas wall.
Photographer unconfirmed; primary photograph reproduced in Michael Skidgell’s circus-fire collectionRead the archive’s context →July 6, 1944
A second east-side photograph records a later stage of the roof fire.
Photographer unconfirmed; primary photograph reproduced in Michael Skidgell’s circus-fire collectionRead the archive’s context →July 6, 1944
An east-side view records the roof after collapse, with parked vehicles in the foreground.
Photographer unconfirmed; primary photograph reproduced in Michael Skidgell’s circus-fire collectionRead the archive’s context →July 6, 1944
A view from the west side records people at the edge of the circus grounds.
Photographer unconfirmed; primary photograph reproduced in Michael Skidgell’s circus-fire collectionRead the archive’s context →July 6, 1944
The sideshow tent remains visible in front of the column of smoke.
Photographer unconfirmed; primary photograph reproduced in Michael Skidgell’s circus-fire collectionRead the archive’s context →July 24, 1944 — Sarasota, Florida
Robert Ringling talks with performers at the circus winter quarters. This is the aftermath in Florida, not the Hartford fire scene.
Wide World press photograph, attributed in Michael Skidgell’s collectionRead the archive’s context →July 24, 1944 — Sarasota, Florida
Phillip Wallenda, Joseph White, Clayton Chase and Frankie Saluto work on a rope ladder. This is the aftermath in Florida, not the Hartford fire scene.
Wide World press photograph, attributed in Michael Skidgell’s collectionRead the archive’s context →July 24, 1944 — Sarasota, Florida
Torrance and Victoria work on equipment damaged in Hartford. This is the aftermath in Florida, not the Hartford fire scene.
Wide World press photograph, attributed in Michael Skidgell’s collectionRead the archive’s context →July 24, 1944 — Sarasota, Florida
Dolly John, Karl Wallenda and Henrietta Wallenda check the bicycle used in their act. This is the aftermath in Florida, not the Hartford fire scene.
Wide World press photograph, attributed in Michael Skidgell’s collectionRead the archive’s context →July 1944
The society’s illustrated account identifies this aerial view as a Connecticut Digital Archive image.
Connecticut Digital Archive; reproduced by Windsor Historical SocietyRead the archive’s context →July 6, 1944
A child’s contemporary written record of attending the circus and escaping the fire.
Diane Lawrence; reproduced by Windsor Historical Society courtesy of circusfire1944.comRead the archive’s context →1944
A specific scrapbook page documents local Motor Corps work through newspaper clippings; collection number 1990.16.3.
Martha Menard scrapbook; Windsor Historical Society collections 1990.16.3Read the archive’s context →Later photograph published in 2024; exposure date not supplied
Sarah Gilligan’s photograph records the grave markers and shared memorial long after the disaster.
Sarah Gilligan / Windsor Historical SocietyRead the archive’s context →THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTOGRAPHS
On July 6, 1944, thousands of people gathered on the Barbour Street circus grounds in Hartford for a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey matinee. Families came to see animals, clowns and aerial performers. A fire near the side of the enormous tent turned that familiar summer entertainment into catastrophe. The tent canvas had been treated with paraffin thinned with gasoline for waterproofing, a treatment that helped the flames spread with extraordinary speed. [1]
As the roof burned, spectators sought exits or tried to get through the canvas sides. Animal passageways and congestion complicated escape. Circus workers and others attempted to help, but the tent collapsed within minutes. Connecticut’s Division of Criminal Justice uses a death toll of 168; other historical accounts give slightly different totals. This collection follows the state’s figure while acknowledging that casualty accounting and identification have a complicated documentary history. The photographs are presented as records of an emergency, with the victims and survivors at the center of the story. [1] [2]
The cause should not be presented as solved. Original investigators favored an accidental ignition, while later claims of arson received extensive attention. Historian Michael Skidgell’s study reproduces the conclusions of the 1991–1993 state police re-examination: investigators could not establish the precise ignition source or eliminate all accidental causes, and the cause remained undetermined. A recanted confession is therefore not proof that a named person set the fire. Keeping this distinction visible prevents a dramatic theory from becoming an unsupported accusation. [3]
The aftermath reached far beyond the burned lot. The state archives preserve arbitration agreements and individual claimant files from 1944–1946, evidence of the effort to compensate survivors and bereaved families. Some victims could not be identified, and numbered burials at Northwood Cemetery in Windsor became part of the disaster’s enduring history. Those numbers were identification records, never a measure of a person’s worth. Researchers should consult archival finding aids for access and context, and treat disputed identifications as unresolved rather than repeating them as settled fact. [4] [2]
Martha Menard’s wartime scrapbook records the Windsor Women’s Motor Corps response. The volunteers had brought convalescing soldiers from Bradley Field to the circus. Their outing became rescue work: they transported victims to hospitals and later worked at the State Armory. The scrapbook preserves local volunteer labor alongside the better-known photographs of the burning tent. [5]
The Hartford History Center’s record of Emmett Kelly carrying a bucket connects a recognizable circus performer with the immediate response. Its catalog caption dates the scene to July 6, 1944 and attributes the original photograph to Ralph Emerson; the record also credits Associated Press. The record’s separate Created Date field says 1956. That metadata date should not be mistaken for the date of the fire. The source trail links the library record so that both dates and its rights statement remain visible. [8]
Dated photographs in historian Michael Skidgell’s collection show workers and performers repairing equipment in Sarasota on July 24, 1944. These are aftermath photographs made in Florida, rather than additional views of the Hartford grounds. The circus resumed performances at Akron’s Rubber Bowl on August 4. Meanwhile, Hartford lawyers and the court arranged a receivership to preserve assets for claims. An arbitration agreement signed in November 1944 addressed compensation; the Hartford County Bar Association’s account describes the later payments and the final balance agreed in 1950. [10] [6]
Six unidentified victims were buried at Northwood Cemetery on July 10, 1944. Windsor Historical Society documents neighborhood children bringing flowers and flags on the first anniversary, followed by donated headstones and a memorial stone in 1945. These records connect the disaster to sustained local care. [5]
The state announced a memorial groundbreaking behind Wish School for July 6, 2004; the Hartford County Bar Association records the dedication in 2005. These are later commemorations at the former circus grounds. In September 2019, a court authorized scientific testing of two unidentified victims buried at Northwood. The Division of Criminal Justice announcement describes a search for identification, not a confirmed result. The State Library’s guide also points to Edwin Thomas Hellyar Jr.’s later oral-history account of attending the circus as a child. [12] [6] [2] [7]
Download this collection’s notes, timeline and image credits. Photographs link to their original archives and require an internet connection.
Building dates and photograph dates are recorded separately. Later photographs are identified in their captions; unknown exposure dates remain unknown. Follow each image’s credit and reuse terms.
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