Delavan was a hub of circus activity from 1847 to 1895, when 26 circuses spent their winters there. Built in 1848, the three-story Park Hotel at 117 Park Place, just north of the park, housed many circus performers and others connected to the circus. In 1874, balloonist Rodney A Palmer struck the hotel’s cornice while making an ascension from the park and suffered injuries that later caused his death. In the 1880s, Harry Houdini, then a 12-year-old runaway, slept in the hotel’s basement livery stable. South of the park, the three-story building at 124 E. Walworth served as quarters for the 1879 Dr. George Morrison Coliseum Circus, which featured Al and John Ringling as performers. Circus wagon and blacksmith shops once stood adjacent to the park, a watering trough at the east end served various animals, and the park was the assembly area for many circus parades.