When the Butler County Historical Society held its grand opening last month for the Jay Bee Miniature Circus, 800 people turned out for the event.

They filled the society's Heritage Center on West New Castle Street in Butler for a look at the hundreds of figures, vehicles and structures that James Wade Bashline had started carving and customizing more than 60 years earlier. He began what became a half-century undertaking after he returned from Army service in World War II.

Mr. Bashline, 90, died May 14 at Sunnyview Home. He had been in poor health for several years.

While he was not able to travel to see his circus in its new home, he was able to watch a video of the grand opening just before he died, according to his daughter, Aryl Bashline.

He was born July 19, 1917, in Butler, the son of J. Cecil Bashline and Eleanore McElroy Bashline.

Mr. Bashline, known as Jimmy, spent most of his life in Butler, where he worked as a sign painter for six decades. He retired in 1997.

While he made his first circus wagon in 1946, he didn't get serious about his big-top project until two years later, according to Ms. Bashline. That year he relocated his sign-painting business from a small garage into a larger structure on New Castle Street.

The new building gave him plenty of room to assemble what became a 10-by-14-foot display. During the 1960s, he brought his circus to the downtown Butler office of Mellon Bank and to the Butler Farm Show, where it was seen by thousands of visitors.

His passion for the circus meant that he and his daughter saw shows by every troupe that performed in southwestern Pennsylvania.

"Ringling Brothers, Carson & Barnes, Clyde Beatty, Cole Brothers -- we went to see them all," Ms. Bashline said in an interview earlier this year.

A graduate of Butler High School, he attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. In addition to making circus models, he carved larger animal sculptures and painted.

He was a former vice president of the Associated Artists of Butler County and was a longtime member of the Terrell Jacobs Ring of the Circus Model Builders Inc., an international organization of hobbyists.

"His talent was amazing," Bill Merchant, a longtime friend, said of Mr. Bashline. "He paid such attention to detail and was a stickler for getting the effect he wanted -- he would spend 200 hours on one piece."

"I remember in one conversation he told me about a judge who warned him that his giraffe looked too real," Mr. Merchant said. "But he carved it the way he wanted."

Mr. Merchant is secretary-treasurer of the Terrell Jacobs Ring.

"We were very sad to hear that he had passed on," said Rebecca Crum-Reinsel, the executive director of the historical society. "We are honored to have his circus in our museum."

Mr. Bashline's circus will remain on permanent display at the Butler County Heritage Center. Information on hours and admission fees is available on the historical society's Web site, www.butlerhistory.com, or at 724-283-8116.

In addition to his daughter, Mr. Bashline is survived by a brother, Charles, of Butler.

His wife, Anna Heloise LaBorde Bashline, died in 2005. They had been married for more than 61 years.

His memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at the First English Lutheran Church, 241 N. Main St., Butler, where he was a member. Interment will be in North Side Cemetery.