SW corner of New Montgomery St. & Mission St. | map |
Opening: January 28, 1874. It was a project of circus man John Wilson.
An ad for the Palace Amphitheatre appearing in the May 1, 1874 issue of Figaro. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating the issue on eBay.
Regular ads to rent the venue began in the June 27, 1874 Daily Alta California. It's on the website of the California Digital Newspaper Collection. They offered it by the "day, week or month at reasonable rates" and noted it had a capacity of 3,000. In a July 11, 1874 Daily California ad they called it Wilson's Palace Amphitheatre, a "magnificent building" available for "concerts, lectures or mass meetings." A July 16, 1874 Daily Alta California ad was for a booking for three nights and a matinee of circus performanes under the management of Hamilton & Chapman.
Wilson was back with his circus for a season that ended in April 1875. It's mentioned in the April 6, 1875 Daily Alta California. The item in an Amusements column noted:
"Wilson's Circus - After a season covering over one hundred consecutive performances, manager John Wilson has closed his Palace Amphitheatre, and will devote the remainder of the week in arranging for his departure upon a traveling tour. He takes with him a combination of rare merit, including Mr. James Robinson and the Jackley troupe, which deserves the liberal patronage of the people of the interior."
Wilson evidently left the area for good in 1875. At some point actor Charley Thorne, Sr. took over the management of the building. "Early Circus Days," an article in the July 8, 1894 San Francisco Call, called the operation "a cheap theater" and noted that it didn't have much success as Thorne and actor Dave Anderson seemed to play the leads in all the plays.
The August 15, 1875 Daily Alta California noted that about 600 people had assembled in the Amphitheatre to watch a billiard match. The January 6, 1878 Daily Alta California noted that there would be a meeting in the building to discuss the "Chinese question." Thanks to Art Siegel for all the research.
The building is shown as "carriage repository" with adjacent stables in this detail from image 48 of the 1887 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map that's in the Library of Congress collection. That's Mission St. across the top of the image and Minna St. across the middle.
More Information: John Wilson (1829-1885), a native of Scotland, gets a writeup on an "Olympians of the Sawdust Circle" page on the site Classic Circus History. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it. Among their comments:
"...With the help of William Hendrickson, bought show equipment for $20,000... and the Grand Circus and Elephant Exhibition, Wilson & Co., owners, opened at Jackson and Kearney Streets, June 1, 1859. Converted Mechanics’ Pavilion, San Francisco, into a hippodrome, 1860; company was advertised as John Wilson’s 'Dan Rice’s' Great Show, the suggestion being Wilson had obtained some of Dan Rice’s trained animals... and made arrangements to use the Rice name... The Wilson circus returned to San Francisco for an October 5-17 stand at the Jackson & Kearney Street lot. From October 30 to November 12, the group occupied the Hippodrome (formerly Mechanics Pavilion), modeled on the lines of the famous Cirque Olympus of Paris; according to the Alta Californian, this was the largest and best show ever seen in the state...
"1862, the wagons of so called Joe Pentland’s Great New York Circus arrived in California from the East on March 30 to go out under the management of Wilson, who had just returned to the West Coast from the Orient; the circus opened in San Francisco at the Jackson Street lot, April 6, in a 110’ round top... The stand terminated May 19 and the company set out for the mountain regions; their absence lasted until October 20 when they returned for a twenty-two day stand under the designation of Mammoth Circus and Hippodrome and Joe Pentland’s Great World Circus; then the show was taken as far south as Los Angeles for an appearance on November 29 and 30. 1863, John Wilson’s Mammoth Circus, with the same program as the previous November, returned to the Metropolitan Theatre, San Francisco, for a stand from January 16 to January 20. By fall, Wilson and H. C. Lee combined their shows as the Mammoth Circus and Roman Hippodrome and descended upon the Jackson Street lot for a stay under canvas from October 23 to November 26.
"1864, Wilson filed suit against William Hendrickson for dissolution of their partnership...1865, in San Francisco John Wilson’s Hippodrome, on the site of the old Mechanics Pavilion was arranged with two rings, an inner and outer one; in the larger, all sorts of races were contested - hurdle, chariot, Roman, pony, and even running; the smaller ring was used for circus acts. Constructed a circus in San Francisco on a lot facing New Mongomery Street and opened on January 28, 1874. Continued in the business until about 1875 or 1876, when he took his troupe to Australia, India, China, etc. He died in Hamburg, Germany, from dropsy and cancer of the liver, during the time his circus was traveling in that country."
Wilson & Cooke's Circus, later just Wilson's Circus, also played in 1868 and 1869 in a building at Stockton and Post, later the site of the Horticultural Hall, also known as the Winter Garden. That page also discusses the nearby Mechanics' Pavilion, aka the Hippodrome.
"Early Circus Days," an article in the July 8, 1894 San Francisco Call, discusses John Wilson. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating this via the California Digital Newspaper Collection. Excerpts:
"John Wilson... was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and was 66 years of age when he died, nine years ago... His first regular introduction to the amusement world was in 1857 or 1858 by means of a couple of trained elephants, Victoria and Albert... Between 1858 and 1874 he started no less than six different circuses in San Francisco, besides managing the Lyceum Theater at the northwest corner of Washington and Montgomery streets, where the earlier sessions of the young stock board were afterward held, long before Montgomery avenue was cut through. The Lick lot on Jackson street was his favorite circus ground. Here on two occasions he introduced a great deal of sawdust talent to the public.
"Then he laid down an arena on the stage of the old Metropolitan Theater and gave a circus under roof for some time. Platt's Hall, where the Mills building now stands was the scene of the triumphs of Ross and Carlo, the great acrobats, under his management. He also built a circus on Sutter street, where Harry Eltinge [?] gave 'Richard II' as an equestrian spectacle.... Then the indefatigable Wilson had a place put up at the southwest corner of New Montgomery and Mission streets, his equestrian card being the famous Jimmy Robinson, whom 'Old John' of Cincinnati picked up as a boy at York Point, in St. John, New Brunswick. The late Charley Thome Sr. afterward started a cheap theater in this place, with old Dave Anderson as his mainstay; but as Dave and Charley played the principal characters in all the pieces produced the enterprise perished from a too pronounced antiquity...
"Wilson's Lyceum Theater management was the best point he made while trying to get a permanent foothold in the amusement world of San Francisco. He brought some very good talent to this house from New York. James Anderson, the silver-voiced actor, was a great feature... He also introduced Fanny Morant [?] to our public and Miss Kioloch [?]. One of his best engagements was that of John Drew, father of the gentleman who appears at the Baldwin next week. Drew was a capital Irish comedian, and his presence on this occasion led to a scrapping match on Washington street between Wilson and Tom Maguire, whose opera-house was located a few doors above the Lyceum on the same side of the street. Maguire was playing John Collins, also an Irish comedian, at the time Wilson was playing Drew. The latter was much the superior actor, and, besides, his material was new. He uttered a boast that he would play Collins out of town, and he made it good. Maguire's theater was gradually deserted, while the Lyceum was crowded, especially to see Drew in 'The Irish Immigrant,' which he played admirably. It was under these circumstances that the rival managers met one evening... Of course Wilson was the better man in such a contest. He had a fist like a sledge-hammer and the strength of an ox...
"In 1874 he purchased or chartered a brigantine, loaded her up with full circus equipment and a small but excellent company of performers and sailed away for fresh worlds and pastures new in Australia and the Orient... Wilson had... found himself unsuccessful here after a struggle of nearly twenty years. When a friend met him running his circus in Melbourne... in 1875, he asked Wilson if he ever intended to revisit California, and his reply was full of bitterness: 'Never. I have done with that part of the world. I curse myself when 1 think what a fool I have been to spend the best part of my life in such a wretched place, gaining nothing, when the Australias, the Indias and China invited me with teeming populations and abundant wealth. There is plenty of space in the East for speculation. No more California for me... Wilson and his establishment were a great success in the chief cities of New South Wales, Victoria and other places in Australia for many years... -- George E. Barnes."
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