Make 'em smile!

The Barnum Museum, in Bridgeport, which has loads of stuff about the impresario’s career and about Bridgeport.

“The noblest art is that of making others happy.’’

— P.T. Barnum (1810-1891), the entertainment mogul best known as the creator of the the modern American circus, in Struggles and Triumphs. A native of Bethel, Conn., he is most associated with Bridgeport, the once world-famous industrial powerhouse that was his base of operations and where he served as mayor in 1975-1876.

The phrase "There's a sucker born every minute" is a phrase closely associated with Mr. Barnum but there’s no evidence he actually said it.

1866 newspaper advertisement for Barnum's American Museum, on Ann Street in Manhattan.

Downtown Bethel in 1914.