Look Inside - Truman State University Press

Copyright © 2016 Truman State University Press, Kirksville, Missouri, 63501
All rights reserved
tsup.truman.edu
Cover art: Ella Ewing at 19 years old, and detail of Ella Ewing with friends and family in
front of her home, courtesy of Downing House Museum (photos by Judith Sharp).
Cover design: Teresa Wheeler
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Offutt, Jason, 1965- author.
Title: Ella Ewing : the Missouri giantess / by Jason Offutt.
Description: Kirksville, Missouri : Truman State University Press, 2016. |
Series: Notable Missourian series | Includes bibliographical references
and index. | Audience: Age 10 to 12. | Audience: Grade 4 to 6.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016007412 | ISBN 9781612481722 (library binding : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Ewing, Ella Kate, 1872-1913--Juvenile literature. |
Giants—Missouri—Biography—Juvenile literature. |
Missouri—Biography—Juvenile literature.
Classification: LCC GN69.22.E95 O44 2016 | DDC 599.9/49092—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016007412
No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any format by any means
without written permission from the publisher.
The paper in this publication meets or exceeds the minimum requirements of the
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1992.
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Contents
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Chapter 1: Ella Grows Fast. . . . . . . . 6
Chapter 2: Ella on Display. . . . . . . 14
Chapter 3: Ella Hits the Big Time . 21
Chapter 4: The Barnum & Bailey
Circus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Chapter 5: Ella’s Last Tours. . . . . . 36
Legacy: Gentle Giantess. . . . . . . . . 44
Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
For Further Reading. . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Image Credits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
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Introduction
Ella Ewing was a giant, but not just any giant. During
her lifetime, Ella was the tallest woman in the world.
Born a normal-sized baby to normal-sized
parents, Ella didn’t start to show she was special
until she was nearly a teenager. By the time she was
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fourteen, Ella was six feet, ten inches tall. That’s as
tall as an NBA basketball player. She quickly grew to
be too large to sit comfortably at the kitchen table,
and had to duck to go through the doorways of her
family’s cabin. Her parents even had to order custommade shoes for Ella because she wore a size 24.
Aside from her height, Ella Ewing was a normal
young woman. Like most people in northeast
Missouri, her parents were farmers and had never
traveled far from their homes. And like other girls
growing up in rural Missouri in the 1880s, Ella learned
to sew, keep house, can vegetables from the garden,
and cook for the family. She went to church with
her family and participated in local social activities.
People who knew Ella said she was gentle and kind.
When she was young, nobody knew this young
woman would continue to grow. And nobody knew
she would one day travel the continent with the
“Greatest Show on Earth”—the Barnum & Bailey
Circus—and become famous as the world’s tallest
woman. Because of her incredible height, Ella saw
sights and had experiences that most people in her
tiny Midwest town had never seen.
When Ella died in 1913 at eight feet, four inches,
she was still the tallest woman ever. d
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Chapter 1
Ella Grows Fast
The world in 1872 was much different than the one
we live in today. In the 1870s, about half of Americans
worked in farming, and they worked without modern
machinery like tractors and harvesters. Cars hadn’t
been invented yet, but new railroads were starting to
compete with horses and buggies or wagons as the
main form of transportation. All thirty-seven states
had free elementary schools, but most children only
went to school until they were about fourteen years
old. Children who lived on farms often skipped school
during planting and harvesting seasons. Even when
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they went to school, they still had to help with the
farm work.
Farm life didn’t change much in the late 1800s,
but other things were changing. In the 1870s, the
Jesse James Gang staged the first train robbery. In
1870, Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback became the
first African American to become a state governor.
In 1871, Susan B. Anthony and fourteen other
women were arrested for
voting, because women were
The first train tracks were built
in Missouri in the 1850s. By 1880,
there were almost 4,000 miles of
train tracks in Missouri, and many
small towns had train stations (as
can be seen in this railroad map).
Because of trains, farmers could
plant more acres and send their
harvest to markets in other
parts of the country. Trains
helped farming grow.
In 1870, there were
9.1 million acres of
farmland in Missouri.
In 1880, there were
16.7 million acres of
farmland in Missouri.
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Chapter 2
Ella on Display
Although Ella considered that Fourth of July event to
be a disaster, it changed her life forever. A man in the
audience had just moved to Missouri from Chicago,
Illinois, and this was the first time he had seen Ella.
He thought people would pay to see a girl as tall as
Ella, so he contacted a friend named Lewis Epstein
who owned a museum in Chicago.
Lewis was excited about meeting Ella, so he
traveled the 278 miles from Chicago to the Ewing
home in Scotland County to see Ella for himself. He
was not disappointed, but Ella’s parents were not
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happy about it. Lewis offered the Ewings money for
Ella to be a featured part of his museum. Ella’s father
became angry. He didn’t want people to stare at his
daughter and think she wasn’t normal.
Lewis left, but he returned to see the Ewings—
over and over. One of Ben’s friends told him that
because Ella was so big, people were going to stare
anyway. He said, “If people are going to gawk, make
them pay.” Lewis finally offered the Ewings more money
than they could refuse. He offered them $1,000 if Ella
would spend thirty days as an exhibit in his museum.
The first all-steel framed
skyscraper was built in Chicago
in 1889. It was ten stories tall.
Soon more very tall buildings
were built in Chicago, including
the twenty-one story tall
Masonic Temple, built in 1892
(shown here). Before Elisha Otis
introduced the elevator in 1857,
people did not want
buildings to be
very tall because
they didn’t want
to climb many
flights of stairs.
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Chapter 4
The Barnum &
Bailey Circus
Phineas T. Barnum knew how to make people pay
attention to him. When he bought a museum in 1841,
he used advertising and crazy stunts to get people
in to see his exhibits. He also arranged concert
and lecture tours and other traveling shows. Soon
everyone knew Barnum’s name. In 1875, a circus
approached Barnum and asked him to work with
them. Barnum’s circus was known by different names,
but its most famous name was “The Greatest Show on
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Earth.” Barnum’s circus merged with the Cooper and
Bailey Circus and became the Barnum & Bailey Circus
in 1881. After Barnum died in 1891, James A. Bailey
became the boss. In 1897 he invited Ella Ewing to join
the Barnum & Bailey Circus.
The circus promised to pay Ella $125 a week for
the twenty-six weeks it toured. That would give her
$3,250, which was a lot of money. Today that amount
would be worth $80,470! The circus knew that Ella
never toured without her parents or another relative,
so they said that Ella’s mother could come too, and
The Barnum & Bailey
Circus featured Ella
Ewing in posters
advertising the show.
They showed her
standing with Great
Peter the Small. Even
though she was very tall
and he was very small,
the circus exaggerated
their heights in the
poster. The poster also
pictured Ella as being
dressed very elegantly
and in the latest
fashions.
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Legacy
Gentle Giantess
Ella Ewing grew up in a small town in rural Missouri,
but she was anything but small. She grew to stand
eight feet, four inches tall—the tallest woman who
ever lived—but her size wasn’t the only thing that
made her big. Ella’s heart was big, too.
Ella’s height posed problems, but she found a
way to turn her great height into an advantage. Ella
traveled the country as a celebrity, appearing in two
world’s fairs, traveling with circuses, and exhibiting at
museums throughout the country.
Ella became famous, but she showed that fame
doesn’t change who you are. Ella’s family and friends
remembered her as a kind and thoughtful person who
had a sense of humor, told wonderful stories of her
travels, and used her money to help her family. She
traveled farther than her friends and neighbors, but
she always returned home. There she was known for
her kindness, generosity, and cheerfulness. That’s
why Ella Ewing wasn’t just known as the Missouri
Giantess, she was also known as the Gentle Giantess. d
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Timeline
March 9, 1872: Ella Ewing was born in LaGrange, Missouri.
1879: Ella shows the first sign of fast growth.
1883: At eleven years old Ella was five feet, six inches tall.
July 4, 1885: Ella does a reading at a Fourth of July celebration.
1888: At sixteen years old, Ella is seven feet tall.
1890: Ella is eighteen years old, and seven feet, eight inches tall. She
and her parents travel to Chicago for her first public exhibition.
Fall 1890: Ella travels with her parents and exhibits at county fairs.
1891: Ella travels with her parents to the eastern United States, where
she exhibits at museums in major cities.
1893: Ella is an exhibit at the Chicago Columbian Exposition.
1894: Ella stops growing at eight feet, four inches tall.
1897: Barnum & Bailey Circus offers Ella a contract to travel with them
for 26 weeks.
1898: Ella signs a contract with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. She
doesn’t like it. After four months, she goes home.
1900: Ella’s mother dies in March. Ella turns down an offer to tour
Europe with the circus.
1900–1904: Ella travels throughout the United States, exhibiting at
fairs and museums.
1904: Ella is featured in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.
1905–1906: Ella exhibits in the United States and Canada.
1907: Ella joins the Ringling Brother’s Circus and travels from April to
November.
1908–1912: Ella exhibits only a few times a year, mostly in the
Midwest, so she can be close to home.
1912: Due to poor health, Ella retires from exhibitions.
January 10, 1913: Ella dies at forty years old.
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For Further Reading
For Young Readers
Fleming, Candace, and Ray Fenwick. The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P. T. Barnum. New York: Schwartz & Wade Books, 2009.
Granfield, Linda. Circus: An Album. New York: DK Ink, 1998.
Graziano, John. Burp! Crazy Human Body Stories. Ripley’s
Believe It or Not. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2012.
Guinness World Records 2016. New York: Guinness World
Records, 2015.
Hartzman, Marc. American Sideshow. Los Angeles: Tarcher-Perigee, 2006.
Klise, Kate. Stand Straight, Ella Kate: The True Story of a Real
Giant. New York: Dial Books, 2010.
Landau, Elaine. Standing Tall: Unusually Tall People. New York: F.
Watts, 1997.
Lawlor, Laurie. Exploring the Chicago World’s Fair 1893. New
York: Aladdin, 2002.
Websites
“Circus.” http://www.kidzsearch.com/wiki/Circus
Downing House Museum. “Ella Ewing: The Missouri Giantess.”
http://www.downinghousemuseum.org/ella-ewing.html
Gerth Funeral Service. “Ella Ewing: The Missouri Giantess.”
http://www.gerthfuneralservice.com/ella-ewing/
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The History of Forest Park: 1904 World’s Fair in Forest Park.
https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/archive/history-forest-park/
fair.html
Missouri Historical Society. The 1904 World’s Fair. http://www.
mohistory.org/exhibits/Fair/WF/HTML/Overview/
Missouri Legends. “Ella Ewing: World’s Tallest Woman.” http://
www.missourilegends.com/history-and-politics/ellaewing/
Missouri Women. “Ella Ewing.” http://missouriwomen.
org/2010/12/12/ella-ewing/
The Tallest Man. “Ella Ewing.” http://www.thetallestman.com/
ellaewing.htm
“Top 10 Tallest People in the World Ever: World History List.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihaFWbKNeDs
Sources
Chasteen, Barbara. Ella K. Ewing, Missouri Giantess: 1872–1913.
MA thesis. Northeast Missouri State University, 1977.
“Legend of Miss Ella Still Stands Tall 100 Years After Her
Passing.” Memphis Democrat, January 10, 2013. http://
archives.memphisdemocrat.com/2013/news/130110_
missella.shtml
McEowen, Bob. “A Towering Spirit: Once the tallest woman in
the world, Ella Ewing is remembered today as much for
her kind heart as her 8-foot, 4-inch height.” Rural Missouri Magazine, March 2003. http://www.ruralmissouri.
org/03pages/03MarchElla.html
“Memories of the World’s Tallest Woman.” LaBelle (MO) Star,
January 10, 1979.
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Index
appearances by Ella, 17, 18–19, 21,
24, 26, 36, 38
farm life, 6–7, 8, 9
Bailey, James, 29, 30, 36
home life, Ella’s, 9, 18, 19, 24–26, 33
Barnum & Bailey Circus, 28–29, 30
living accommodations for Ella,
17–18, 33–34, 40
Great Peter the Small, 29, 30, 32
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, 34–35
church activities of Ella, 26–27
Louisiana Purchase Exposition (St.
Louis), 39, 40
circuses, 30–31, 32–33, 38, 41–42
newspaper reports on Ella, 17, 25
clothing, Ella’s, 12, 13, 25, 30, 41
railroads, 6, 7, 19
comparing Ella’s growth, 10–13, 18,
24, 26, 30, 33, 41
Ringling Bros. Circus, 41–42
Ewing, Ben and Anna (parents), 8,
14–15, 29–30, 37–38, 43
World’s Columbian Exposition
(Chicago), 21–23
Chicago museum, 14–15, 17
skyscrapers, 15, 20
Image Credits
Original art by John Hare: pgs. 6, 14, 21, 28, and 36.
Courtesy of Downing House Museum (photos by Judith Sharp): cover, detail of Ella Ewing with friends and
family in front of her home; p. 13, Ella Ewing at 19 years old; p. 26, Ella Ewing’s shoe; p. 27, Ella with cousins
and a friend; p. 30, Gloves of Ella Ewing and Great Peter the Small; p. 42, Ella Ewing and friends in front of her
house, 1908; p. 43, Ella Ewing’s funeral.
Courtesy of Missouri State Museum: cover, pgs. 4 and 32, Ella Ewing at age 23 (00.1978.013.0001); p. 16, Ella
Ewing and parents (00.1983.352.0003); p. 25, Ella Ewing with mother (00.1983.259.0021); p. 34, Ella Ewing and
parents outside her home (00.2015.013.0002); p. 39, Ella Ewing (00.2015.013.0003).
Library of Congress, Maps Division: p. 7, Johnson’s New Railroad and Township Copper-Plate Map of Illinois,
Iowa, and Missouri... New York, 1859 (#98688394).
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division: p. 15, Masonic Temple, Chicago (Detroit Publishing
Co., 1900), (#det1994005474/PP); p. 19, American railroad scene (Currier & Ives, 1874), (#90708612); p.
20, Sky-scrapers of Philadelphia, 1898 (#2003680970); p. 22, Bird’s eye view of the World’s Columbian
Exposition, Chicago (Rand McNally & Co., 1893), (#98687181); p. 31, The Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show
on Earth, Peerless Prodigies of Physical Phenomena... (Cincinnati: Strobridge Litho Co., 1899), (#95501056);
p. 35, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World (Buffalo, NY: Courier Litho Co.,
1899), (#94513623); p. 37, Parade with lion in cage on wagon, circus tent in background (Calvert Litho Co.,
1891), (#97502443); p. 38, Colorful parade wagon at Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wisconsin, Carol M.
Highsmith, 1980–2010 (#2011634897); p. 40, World’s Fair, St. Louis, 1904 (#98687180).
Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons: p. 8, A terrace system protects a field from erosion in western
Missouri (USDA NRCS Photo Gallery, NRCSMO02031, 2011); p. 9, Ratatouille in a glass jar (Kotivalo, 2015); p.
9, detail from Tinsley Living Farm, Museum of the Rockies (Tim Evanson, 2013); p. 11, Interior of a one-room
schoolhouse (Daniel Penfield, 2015); p. 22, “Ferris Wheel,” color plate by Charles S. Graham from The World’s
Fair in Water Colors, 1893 (Field Museum Library, GN90799d_WFWC_02w).
Courtesy of Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wisconsin: p. 29, The Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on
Earth, The Largest and Least of Living Humanity (Strobridge Litho Co., 1897), (CWi 14934).
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