The first modern circus in the United States was one in Philadelphia, founded by John Bill Ricketts on April 3, 1793. “The Circus of Pepin and Breschard” toured from Montreal to Havana in the first two decades of the 19th century, and they built many circus buildings along the way. Joshuah Purdy was the first to use a large tent for his circus, and he did it in 1825. Thomas Taplin Cooke brought a tent to England in 1838. Because tents were easier to use, they slowly replaced circus buildings, retrofitted buildings, and open spaces.