Judy Hutchison can still recall the day the circus came to Butler.

It was nearly 63 years ago when the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus unloaded its animals and equipment from trains on Monroe Street.

Hutchison of Center Township was 10 years old at the time and remembers vividly the lions and horses coming out of the rail cars.

“It was very exciting,” said Hutchison, 73. “I knew we were in awe, maybe because we lived here in Butler. That was something that you did not ever get to see, and it was a one-time thing. It was very special.”

The circus came to Butler on July 9, 1954, for an afternoon show and an evening show.

The two shows, performed at the old Butler Fairgrounds where Butler High School stands today, drew 12,000 spectators and dazzled audiences with 27 acts.

More than 1,000 circus performers and several hundred animals put on the shows.

Bears, lions, tigers, dogs and nine elephants wowed the crowd, while aerialists, unicyclists and wire-walkers provided thrilling spectacles.

To lighten the mood, Emmett Kelly and a host of clowns provided a comedic touch.

The Butler Eagle wrote then that “Butler's younger generation, usually blasé about things, generally took to the circus like their fathers did when they were youngsters.”

Jean Oesterling, 88, of Prospect, grew up in Butler and remembers the anticipation Butler residents had when circuses were due to arrive.

“I can tell you (it was), 'The circus is coming to town, the circus is coming to town!,'” she said.

She also recalled how circus workers erected the big tops.

“They would put the big tents up, and the elephants would pull the big ropes with the pegs and do all that,” she said.

Hutchison and her friend, Sharon Isaacson had an up-close experience with an elephant the day Ringling Bros. came to Butler.

They talked to an elephant handler who had once been a tight-wire and trapeze artist before an injury had ended his career. He showed them the scars on his shoulder and hands.

“He'd been badly hurt,” Hutchison said.

He showed them the elephants but warned them to be cautious.

“These elephants were so huge, and we were pretty close to them, and he kept telling us, 'Don't get real close,'” Hutchison said. “They seemed like they were really uneasy. I don't know if that was because we were there, or if they were afraid of him.”

She also recalled injuries the elephants had.

“They had a lot of scarring on their legs and their sides,” she said. “Some of them were old, some of them were not. (They had) chains on their legs. A lot of that was open and it was bleeding. I guess we didn't think too much about that then, when we were children, and now we think about that a lot different.”

Hutchison also recalled what she learned that day from a lengthy conversation with the elephant handler.

“It was not an easy life for anybody, regardless of whether it was the animals or the people who handled them, or the people who performed,” she said. “It was a pretty tough life. From all the traveling, it was hard work. Very hard work.”

That was the last time Ringling Bros. performed in Butler, although the circus returned many more times to Pittsburgh.

In recent years, Ringling Bros. has faced heavy criticism from animal rights groups over alleged mistreatment of its animals. The circus also has faced declining popularity, and is ending its 146-year run in May.

The Ringling Bros. appearance in Butler, however, is still treasured in the hearts of Butler residents who remember it. Its memory also has been passed on through generations.

Aryl Bashline, daughter of late Butler resident and circus enthusiast Jimmy Bashline, remembers her father telling her about Ringling Bros. coming to Butler.

“He was thrilled that it came to town, because he went and took pictures up there and got to talk to the performers and everything, which you didn't get to do when you saw (Ringling Bros.) in Pittsburgh,” she said.

Her father was a fan of all circuses, but held the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in the highest esteem.

“He'd go to any circus, whatever it was,” Bashline said. “Ringling Bros. was the best, though, as far as that went.”