This photo, taken circa 1950, shows the Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey Circus’ entrance to their winter quarters, located on North Beneva Road in Sarasota. Here, the performers would set up camp on the County Fair Grounds and train for their grueling summer season traveling the country. The quarters, which moved from Bridgeport, Conn., in 1927 after a devastating fire, brought to Sarasota a large influx of tourism and economic prosperity. This was also the location of Cecil B. DeMille’s  Academy Award-winning movie The Greatest Show On Earth.

Courtesy of the Sarasota Historical Society