Lionel Legare's Mammoth Spiral Tower

Lionel Legare & His Mammoth Spiral Tower Act, where he balances on a rolling sphere while traveling up and down a 110 foot tower.  In the evenings, the tower was lit with electric lights, and the show would include fireworks.

He was at Riverside Park between Milton and Watsontown for a week in May of 1910.

While researching Riverside Park in Milton Pa (a park  between Milon and Watsontown, built by the trolley line) I came across the above lines in the Lewisburg Journal.  Wondering what a "spiral tower" exhibit might be, I did a quick search with no real results.  But mention of  Legare showed up several more times in local papers, and it was obvious this was an act that appeared frequently at fairs and parks throughout the Susquehanna Valley..  So I searched a bit harder, and finally turned up some photos.  

I don't know what  I thought a mammoth spiral tower may be, but never in my wildest imagination did I picture this.  What an incredible sight!   Legare traveled the United States and Europe with this act.  His home was in Bethlehem Pa, which may help explain why he appeared so frequently around the small towns of Pennsylvania.

There is no safety harness here, no net, nor cushion.  This would have been incredible to see in person, and I do hope that some of my ancestor took the trolley to the park when this show arrived.

 Imagine all the lumber that would have to travel with him to each location! I noticed that in all of the advertisements I read in local papers, his show was always free admission.  I wonder if the railroad sponsored him, to bring crowds out to ride on their trains to see the show?  

======================

For More Local History Tidbits - 

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/p/history.html

======================

"Perhaps the greatest of the free attractions if Lionel Legare who walked upon  ball down a 100-foot spiral.  This is described as a circus in itself"

Lionel Legare was the stage name for A.L. Rupert, of Bethlehem Pa.