Who's Who in Dallas County, Iowa, 1940

1940 Who's Who

HARVEY, ROBERT MITCHELL

Circus Executive; b Sidney, Iowa June 2, 1871; s of Josiah Allen Harvey-Melissa C Mitchell; ed Des Moines HS 1888; DePauw U 1892, Green Castle, Ind; m Carolina Schwal Sept 3, 1891 Polk City; 1893 estab weekly paper, Cambridge Press, Cambridge; 1893-1920 with brother owned weekly Perry Chief, changed to semi-weekly, consolidated with Perry Reporter, became daily in 1896; 1896-1903 contracting agt with Barnum & Bailey Circus; 1903-11 press agt Wallace shows, combined Carl Hagenback Circus; 1917-22 org & mgr Harvey Greater Minstrels, consisting of 55 colored people & two RR cars, toured nation; 1920-28 owner of Chief newspaper; 1920 estab Chief Printing & Opera House Corp, constructed bldg for theater & print firm with Scott Snyder as editor-in-chief & Herb Adams, business mgr; 1922-26 chief exec routing all shows of Amer Circus Corp, Chicago Ill opr of John Robinson, Sells Floto, Hagenback-Wallace & Howe's Great London Shows; 1926-34 gen agt Miller Brothers 101 ranch; 1928 sold Chief to corp headed by James R Rhodes, retained ownership of theater; through columns of Chief helped obtain Carnegie lib & interurban railway; 1934- with various motorized shows throughout US; 1936 remodeled theater & leased to Pioneer Theater Co, Minneapolis; handled the Madison Square engagements of Barnum & Bailey in N Y 8 years; Outdoor Showmen's Assn, past pres, past secy; BPOE 407; AF & AM 299; Scot Rite; Za-Ga-Zig Shrine; Meth Ch; hobby: reading; res Pattee Hotel, Perry.

Key to Abbreviations

From Who's Who in Iowa, by Iowa Press Association, Des Moines: Iowa Press Association, 1940, pg. .

Transcribed by Conni McDaniel Hall, July 2014.