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7 June 1920
Five years later the show stood at home, and a Mishawaka resident objected in print — and his objection is the proof that the ground existed. The South Bend News-Times of 9 June 1920 carried a letter signed J. L. Rooks over the night of Monday, 7 June, at what he calls "the circus grounds" and "the circus field" in Mishawaka: the side shows and games of chance ran wide open, and the gambling features, he wrote, were an offense against decency and good morals. The city had granted the permit and collected the license. The council had cancelled its own regular meeting that night, and its members were at the show. Rooks asked that it never be allowed again.
The letter names no circus — the big top's identity was evidently beside the writer's point — and none is named here. What it establishes, at first hand, is that by 1920 Mishawaka had a recognized circus ground of its own, licensed by the city and used in season: the closest thing to a standing animal institution the city ever possessed, and it was a field with tents on it, empty the rest of the year.
Principal sources
- South Bend News-Times, 9 June 1920 — letter of J. L. Rooks, read first-hand.