County of Mural: Schuyler County
Location of Mural: Jackson St. & Green St., behind courthouse, Lancaster
Some History of William P. "Diamond Billy" Hall.
BILLY HALL'S
PERFORMING
ELEPHANTS
LANCASTER, MO
[William P. Hall, a Schuyler County native and an orphan at age fourteen, learned early he possessed a natural aptitude for training and trading horses. With this skill, he worked hard, took risks, and by the age of twenty-two, held a national reputation as a quality horse trader.
Known as "Diamond Billy" due to his wealth and diamond-studded apparel, Hall, masterminded and developed one of the most unique business ventures ever operated in Schuyler County. This colorful figure owned most of, if not all, of the elephants in the country during his reign and made Lancaster the circus capital of the United States for the first three decades of the Twentieth Century.
In the late 1890s, Hall developed a sale barn in Cape Town, South Africa, thus opening the doors to his future endeavors with exotic animals and the circus business. His foreign ventures, based out of Cape Town, extended across Europe and netted Hall huge profits as a result of the Boer War and World War I. During these wars, he supplied thousands of mules and horses to the warring nations for military use. Simultaneously, he exported large cargo's of Missouri Mules each month to South Africa for use in farming and mining.
Around the turn of the Century, Hall acted on a childhood dream of owning a circus, which led to his most unusual business of all; a circus brokerage firm. After locating and buying large quantities of elephants, bears, camels, zebras, elks, and other exotic animals, hall launched his first and only circus. This was 1905, and the show was not particularly successful, but Hall's interest in the industry was not solid and never waned. For the next quarter of the century, he continually purchased circus equipment, exotic animals, tents, train cars, cages etc. Whenever a major circus would fold, "Diamond Billy" could be found at the auction house, adding to his inventory for future customers.
Most major circus acts of the early 20th Century, including the likes of "Barton and Baily Circus", the "Coulter and Coulter Circus", the "Buffalo Bill Wild West Show", and the "Pawnee Bill Wild West Show", and the "Sig Sautelle Circus", bought or leased their equipment and/or animals from William "Diamond Billy" Hall. Other circus companies wintered their animals and equipment on Hall's extensive farm in Lancaster, MO. This national acclaimed brokerage business thrived for more than 25 years, and only closed with his death in 1932. He was 68 years old. ]
{Some of the material for this text is from Ann L. Roger article for the State of Missouri Historical Society.}