P. T. Barnum

Launches his career by exhibiting Joice Heth, an elderly Black woman he claims is 161 years old and George Washington's former nurse. Neither claim is true. Tickets sell briskly. He is 25.

Purchases Scudder's American Museum in Manhattan for $15,000, most of it borrowed. Renames it Barnum's American Museum. Fills it with oddities, taxidermy, a mermaid hoax, and live animal acts. Within a year it's the most visited attraction in America.

Brings Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind to America for a 93-concert tour. He's never heard her sing. He pays her $1,000 per night. Ticket prices hit $650. He clears over $500,000 from the tour.

Opens "P.T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan & Hippodrome" in Brooklyn. Three rings. He calls it "The Greatest Show on Earth." He's 60 years old and just getting started.

Pays $10,000 to the London Zoo for Jumbo, a six-ton African elephant beloved by British children. Queen Victoria is reportedly displeased. Jumbo arrives in New York to massive crowds. He becomes the circus's biggest draw.

Dies at his home in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He's 80. His last words, reportedly: "How were the receipts today at Madison Square Garden?" The New York Evening Sun, at his request, had published his obituary two weeks before he died so he could read it.