Keith (Benjamin F.) is born in Hillsborough, New Hampshire.

Benjamin Keith grows up on a farm, runs away to join P.T. Barnum’s circus, and arrives in Boston in 1882. He operates a series of storefront curiosity shows in 1883,* then, with E.F. Albee, begins buying and building theaters in 1885.* Keith introduces live, family-oriented variety shows in Boston in 1886,* and comes to be called the “Father of Vaudeville.” He subsequently expands his business to include hundreds of vaudeville theaters. Keith dies in Palm Beach, Florida, on March 26, 1914 and is buried in Newton Cemetery.