Northwestern's circus began in 1908 as a YWCA fundraiser outside of the old Willard Hall (later the Music Administration Building) and then moved to the once-huge Patten Gym. Performed every spring until 1933 (with the exception of 1918 because of the United States’ entry into World War I), the weekend-long circus featured acts by fraternities and sororities, gymnists, trapeze artists and even the occasional elephant,