Cincinnati Zoo

At a glance

Overview

The Cincinnati Zoo is the second-oldest zoo in the United States, opened on September 18, 1875, about 14 months after the Philadelphia Zoo, on a leased tract of Blakely Woods in Avondale, then a suburb north of the city. It grew out of the Society for the Acclimatization of Birds, which starch manufacturer Andrew Erkenbrecher and other residents formed after an 1872 caterpillar plague, and whose members organized the Zoological Society of Cincinnati in 1873. The zoo went bankrupt in 1898, was run by the Cincinnati Traction Company from 1901, was rescued by Mary Emery and Anna Sinton Taft in the 1910s, and passed to the city's Board of Park Commissioners in the early 1930s. It is best known as the place where Martha, the last passenger pigeon, died in 1914 and Incas, the last known Carolina parakeet, died in 1918; the aviary pagoda where Martha lived survives as the Passenger Pigeon Memorial. Its Monkey House (now the Reptile House), the Herbivore or Elephant House and the surviving aviary building were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987.

The name

Opened in 1875 as the Cincinnati Zoological Garden (also written Zoological Gardens); it was renamed the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden in 1987. (source)

Native American history

No Native American village, mound or trail is recorded on the zoo grounds themselves. The land lies in the Symmes (Miami) Purchase, the tract between the Great Miami and Little Miami rivers that John Cleves Symmes and his associates bought from Congress beginning in 1788, and on which the settlement of Losantiville, later Cincinnati, was built. The zoo's direct tie to Native history is a human exhibit: in 1896, to raise attendance, the zoo invited one hundred Sioux people to set up a village on the grounds, where they lived for three months.

• Sioux village at the Cincinnati Zoological Garden: camp, Zoo grounds, Avondale, 1896, three months
• Symmes (Miami) Purchase: treaty, Land between the Great Miami and Little Miami rivers, including Cincinnati, 1788 request; patent approved 1794

Stories

Martha, the last passenger pigeon

Martha was named for Martha Washington. By November 1907, after four captive males in Milwaukee died over the winter, she and two male companions at the Cincinnati Zoo were the only known surviving passenger pigeons. One male died in April 1909 and the other on July 10, 1910. Offers of a $1,000 reward for a mate brought still more visitors to see her. Martha died at 1 p.m. on September 1, 1914. She was taken to the Cincinnati Ice Company, frozen into a 300-pound block of ice and sent by express train to the Smithsonian, where she arrived on September 4; William Palmer skinned her and Nelson R. Wood mounted her skin. She left the Smithsonian only twice in the following decades: to San Diego in 1966 for a conservation conference, and back to Cincinnati in June 1974 for the dedication of the Passenger Pigeon Memorial. (source)

Where Martha came from: a garbled record

Even the basic facts of Martha's life are disputed. The ornithologist A. W. Schorger called the history of the zoo's passenger pigeons hopelessly confused. One version holds that Martha hatched around 1885 in the flock kept by Professor Charles Otis Whitman at the University of Chicago and was sent to Cincinnati in 1902. Another version holds that she descended from three pairs the zoo bought in 1877 and hatched at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1885. Her age at death is given anywhere from 17 to 29 years, with 29 the usual figure. (source)

Incas, the last Carolina parakeet

The Carolina parakeet was the only parrot native to the eastern United States. In 1885 the zoo bought Incas with 15 other parakeets for $40, hoping to breed them. He was paired with a female named Lady Jane from the same shipment; over 32 years together the pair laid eggs regularly but rolled them out of the nest. The London Zoo once offered $400 for the pair. Lady Jane died in late summer 1917, and keepers said Incas became listless. He died on the evening of February 21, 1918, after two days of snow and night temperatures near 7 degrees, possibly in the same pagoda where Martha had died. Like Martha he was meant to go to the Smithsonian in ice, but his body never arrived there and its whereabouts are unknown. (source)

Sol Stephan, the elephant trainer who ran the zoo

Sol Stephan came to Cincinnati in 1874 as the trainer of Conqueror, an elephant bought from a circus, and stayed until 1937, the last 51 years as general superintendent. During the money troubles that ran from the 1880s to the 1930s he was at times reduced to paying the zoo's bills from his own pocket. He was a showman: he built an ice rink, a dance hall and a music pavilion, installed a carousel and a small roller coaster, and staged events to bring crowds. He was also for many years the sole North American agent for the Hagenbeck animal dealers of Hamburg, which helped him land firsts such as the country's first Cape hunting dogs and first giraffe birth in 1889 and its first Przewalski's horses in 1904. The Landmark nomination credits him with keeping his promise to give Martha's body to the Smithsonian. (source)

Susie, the gorilla who came by Zeppelin

Susie was captured in the Belgian Congo and sold to French explorers. In August 1929 she crossed from Europe to the United States aboard the airship Graf Zeppelin, then toured with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Robert J. Sullivan bought her for $4,500 and in 1931 loaned her permanently to the Cincinnati Zoo. Her trainer, William Dressman, taught her to eat with a knife and fork and staged two shows a day; a postcard of the period called her the world's only trained gorilla. More than 16,000 people came to the zoo for her birthday on August 7, 1936. She died on October 29, 1947; her body was mounted and given to the University of Cincinnati, and her skeleton was on display until it was destroyed in a 1974 fire. (source)

Timeline

• 1868: Andrew Erkenbrecher, a Cincinnati starch manufacturer and bird collector, first suggests a zoological garden for the city. (source)
• 1872: After a caterpillar plague, Erkenbrecher and others form the Society for the Acclimatization of Birds, which imports about 1,000 insect-eating birds from Europe. (source)
• 1873: In July, Erkenbrecher and his associates form the Zoological Society of Cincinnati, a private stock corporation, to build and run a zoo. (source)
• 1874: With a site of about 67 acres in Avondale secured (on a 99-year lease in Blakely Woods, per Ohio History Central), construction begins on the rugged ground in October. (source)
• 1875: The Cincinnati Zoological Garden opens on September 18 with an aviary, dog kennels and bear pits finished, and a first collection that included a circus elephant named Conqueror and a talking crow. (source)
• 1878: A sea lion is born at the zoo, the first born in captivity, and the zoo acquires its first pair of giraffes, Daisy and Abe. (source)
• 1880: The zoo records the first zoo hatching of a trumpeter swan, and four passenger pigeons also hatch there. (source)
• 1882: The first American bison born in captivity is born at the zoo. (source)
• 1885: Incas, a Carolina parakeet, is bought with 15 other birds for $40 in an attempt to breed the species. (source)
• 1886: Deep in debt, the zoo sells 22 acres of its grounds. (source)
• 1889: Under superintendent Sol Stephan the zoo shows the first Cape hunting dogs in the United States and records the country's first giraffe birth. (source)
• 1896: To raise attendance, the zoo invites one hundred Sioux people to set up a village on the grounds, where they live for three months. (source)
• 1898: The zoo goes bankrupt after years of debt and an economic depression. (source)
• 1901: The streetcar company that ran a trolley line to the gates (named the Cincinnati Transit Company in the Landmark nomination and the Cincinnati Traction Company elsewhere) buys a controlling interest in the zoo. (source)
• 1902: The Herbivore (Elephant) House, a concrete building modeled on an East Indian temple, is completed; a local history site dates its opening to 1906. (source)
• 1904: The zoo gives the first United States exhibition of Przewalski's horses. (source)
• 1910: On July 10 the last male passenger pigeon at the zoo dies, leaving Martha as the only known member of her species. (source)
• 1912: The 1804 Kemper Log House, built by the Rev. James Kemper in Walnut Hills, is moved to the zoo as a historical exhibit. (source)
• 1914: Martha, the last passenger pigeon, dies at the zoo on September 1 and is shipped frozen in ice to the Smithsonian. (source)
• 1916: Mary Emery and Mrs. Charles (Anna Sinton) Taft rescue the zoo by agreeing to match public contributions; other sources give 1915 or 1917 for the purchase. (source)
• 1918: Incas, the last known Carolina parakeet, dies at the zoo on February 21 after a spell of unseasonable cold. (source)
• 1920: The Cincinnati Summer Opera begins performing at the zoo, where it stays until 1971 and is broadcast nationally by NBC. (source)
• 1922: The Monkey House is remodeled, its outdoor summer cages removed and the interior cages modified. (source)
• 1931: Susie, a gorilla brought to the United States aboard the Graf Zeppelin in 1929, is loaned to the zoo and becomes its star attraction. (source)
• 1932: The City of Cincinnati buys the zoo and places it under the Board of Park Commissioners, with a society managing it as a nonprofit; the National Register nomination gives the purchase year as 1933. (source)
• 1937: Sol Stephan retires after 63 years at the zoo, the last 51 as general superintendent; he had arrived in 1874 as the trainer of the elephant Conqueror. (source)
• 1947: Susie the gorilla dies on October 29. (source)
• 1951: The old Monkey House is converted into the Reptile House. (source)
• 1970: Sam, the first gorilla born at the zoo, is born, followed eight days later by Samantha. (source)
• 1974: Martha's mounted body is flown from the Smithsonian to Cincinnati in June for the dedication of the Passenger Pigeon Memorial. (source)
• 1974-1975: Six of the seven pagoda-style aviary buildings are demolished; the large central pavilion, Martha's last home, is moved about 50 feet and restored as the memorial. (source)
• 1986: The zoo founds its Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW). (source)
• 1987: The Monkey House, Herbivore House and surviving aviary are designated a National Historic Landmark on February 27, and the zoo is renamed the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. (source)
• 1995: The zoo sets a U.S. record with six gorilla births in one year, including the world's first test-tube gorilla. (source)
• 2016: On May 28 zoo staff shoot Harambe, a 17-year-old western lowland gorilla, after a three-year-old boy climbs into his enclosure. (source)
• 2017: Fiona, a Nile hippopotamus, is born six weeks premature on January 24, the zoo's first hippo birth in 75 years. (source)
• 2024: The Harry and Linda Fath Elephant Trek, the largest habitat in the zoo's history, opens on October 1. (source)

Sources

• en.wikipedia.org: Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden
• en.wikipedia.org: Martha (passenger pigeon)
• en.wikipedia.org: Incas (parakeet)
• en.wikipedia.org: Kemper Log House
• npgallery.nps.gov: 87000905 text
• tps.cr.nps.gov: detail.cfm
• ohiohistorycentral.org: Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden
• ohiohistorycentral.org: Symmes Purchase
• cincinnativiews.net: zoo main
• mnh.si.edu: martha2
• ohiomagazine.com: passenger pigeon memorial
• cincinnatizoo.org: history and vision