Circus of Pepin and Breschard

The Circus of Pepin and Breschard arrived in the United States of America from Madrid, Spain (where they had performed during the 1805 and 1806 seasons), in November of 1807. They toured that new country until 1815. From their arrival until the present day, the traditional circus has had a presence in North America.

Victor Pepin and Jean Baptiste Casmiere Breschard's troupes built circus theatres from Montreal to New Orleans. The oldest continuously operating theatre in the English speaking world, The Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, PA, was constructed by Pepin and Breschard in 1809. Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette attended the opening of a renovated Walnut in 1811.

The Circus of Pepin and Breschard introduced at least one Shakespearean play to the US and brought the circus to such frontier cities as Pittsburgh, PA, where Benjamin Latrobe designed and constructed a circus for them in 1814.

Victor Pepin having been born in what is now the state of New York, U.S.A., was the first American (USA) to own and operate a circus in his native country. The Circus of Pepin and Breschard thus can be considered the First American Circus.