POTSDAM -- The tragic site of Barnum and Bailey’s Circus train wreck August 22, 1889 that killed many of the animals aboard now has a historic marker at the Rt. 56 railroad crossing between Potsdam and Norwood.

Thanks to the efforts of many in researching the wreck and securing funding, the marker was erected Friday, Aug. 21.

Cathy Cook, Potsdam, obtained a grant of $1,100 for the marker from William C. Pomeroy Foundation. The grant was made possible by the research of Nicole Roche, of St. Lawrence University, and Potsdam Museum Director Mimi Van Deusen in determining the train wreck’s exact location.

“It’s really cool to see this permanent representation that this event happened and we can remember it,” said Roche. She said the nearby farm is where the circus housed all the animals that survived the train wreck.

“As the train ran downhill into Clark's Crossing, an axle broke in a car near the engine of the train, leading to a six-car pile-up. The attendants struggled to free their panicking animals from the wreckage. Remarkably, none of the passengers or the elephants died, but two camels, a trick mule, and twenty-eight horses perished. The surviving animals were housed at a local farm, and the villagers flocked to see them. It was calculated that the wreck cost Barnum and Bailey $58,000," says a Potsdam Museum article titled "Locomotion: A History of Trains and Railroads in Northern New York."

“The following day the dead animals were drawn to an adjoining field and buried in a trench100 feet long, 10 feet wide and 8 feet deep on the west side of the Potsdam-Norwood Road, south of the tracks. I have been told that members of the Clark family always pointed out this spot to their visitors. S.S. Clark, who resided on the farm adjacent to the railroad tracks, provided places for the 80 rare animals which were taken from the wreck alive.

"Scattered about his premises were Burmese cows, blooded horses, trained ponies, huge elephants, the sacred ox, camels quietly grazing, oryx, zebras, llamas, ibex and other curiosities from the Old World. Of the rare animals, only two camels were killed,” according to “Circus Train Wreck of August 22, 1889” by Susan C. Lyman published in The St. Lawrence County Historical Association Quarterly.