The show gained some prominence when their copyright for advertising posters was upheld by the Supreme Court in Bleistein v. Donaldson Lithographing Company.

In March 1913, the circus lost 8 elephants, 21 lions and tigers and 8 performing horses in the Great Flood of 1913.

That same year, Wallace sold his interest in the circus to Ed Ballard of French Lick, Indiana.

Most are buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois in a section set aside as Showmen's Rest.

A year later, Mugivan and Bowers asked Ballard to join them and the trio formed the American Circus Company.

There, on 35 acres of land, the circus stayed with its huge parade wagons parked alongside a railroad spur.

The elephants spent time hauling refuse wagons, shunting railroad cars and piling baled hay.

Hagenbeck is also mentioned in the story "First Love" by Samuel Beckett, where the protagonist reminisces about a visit to Ohlsdorf Cemetery.

In the fall of 2006 The Neo-Futurists theater company of Chicago mounted an original production entitled Roustabout: The Great Circus Train Wreck!

This was followed in 2016 by a production at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, directed by theatre faculty member Arthur Grothe.