This illustration depicts a lavish museum to be opened by Barnum in the 1870s. It was constructed and was successful for a time, but a fire at that location prompted Barnum to quit the museum business for good.
After a run of bad luck and periods where he was bankrupted, he began to concentrate on a new venture, the traveling circus.
Most people think of Barnum as a circus entrepreneur, but he didn't actually enter the circus business until he was in his sixties.