(1866–1936), U.S. circus owner. Born in 1866 in Baraboo, Wis., John Ringling cofounded Ringling Bros. Circus with his four older brothers in the 1880s. In 1907 the brothers purchased Barnum and Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth and eventually established winter quarters for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Sarasota, Fla. After the death of his brother Charles in 1926, John became the leader of the circus. He purchased the American Circus Corporation in 1929, adding to the ten other major circuses the Ringlings owned and eliminating any major competition. He also established an art museum in Sarasota.