Jackson County
(Mo.)
Historical Society
Portals to the Past by David W. Jackson
First Call for Kansas City Zoo Came in November 1907
The first mention of a zoo for Kansas City came
at a City Council meeting in mid-November 1907. The call for a zoological
society was announced by Gus Pearson, City Comptroller, and W. V. Lippincott,
who were members of the Jackson County Humane Society.
Offers of
rare animals were previously offered to the City, but there was no authority
or financial provision to receive and care for them. A plan was proposed to
for a zoological society to have charge of the zoo, and to appoint a keeper
and assistants to be paid by the city. “We propose to ask the city also to
set off a part of Swope Park for the zoo and to provide proper fencing and
shelter for the animals,” said Pearson at that first announcement in the Kansas City Star.
By January
1908, it was clear that Kansas City was not going to have any trouble making
a start of its zoological garden in Swope Park. Pearson reported having
received a letter from A. Goerling, a handler of rare animals in Western
Australia, who offered through the American Consul, to contribute as a
starter and afterwards sell kangaroos and other animals and birds to Kansas
City.
Then, by
late March 1908, the Kansas City Star
printed a letter from a man in Silver City, New Mexico, who said, “A party
has just brought into town a wildcat, captured in the mountains near here.”
He offered to forward it by express and offered the enticement that, “The cat
is about two thirds grown and has a very pretty skin.”
Parks
Department employees got into the spirit. A rainy day in May precluded them
from normal work, so they went fox hunting in Swope Park. A den containing
three Kentucky red foxes was found, and two were captured. B. A. Chandler,
then park superintendent, said, “We also know where there are some young
wolves, and we’ll get them too.”
Finally, on
June 22, 1908, 60 acres in the northwestern part of Swope Park were set aside
for Kansas City’s zoological garden. The next month, plans for the first
building, a $15,000 structure of native stone, was announced. The 190’ x 90’
animal house was erected near the west entrance to the 60-acre zoo.
Groundbreaking for this historic building—which survives today—took place on
November 5, 1908.
Fundraising
for the purchase of animals for the “Swope Park Zoo” was first advertised in
September 1908. A “stuffed menagerie street parade” of H. Jarret’s personal
collection of Australian specimens were exhibited to promote the main event
that included two lectures at the old Convention Hall (now the site of Barney
Allis Plaza) by G. O. Shields, editor of Shield’s
Magazine and Director of the then 10-year-old 260-acre New York
Zoological Gardens. Shields, author of many books (some under the pseudonym
“Coquina”), including, “The Big Game of North America,” “Hunting in the Great
West,” and “Rustling in the Rockies,” said, “You can have no idea of the true
value of a zoo until you get one of your own.”
To boost
funding, the Kansas City Zoological Society contracted in April 1909 for
another event in the Convention Hall. This time, the Campbell Brothers Circus
featured a menagerie of 24 cages and a sideshow.
Appropriations
for the zoo didn’t come forth without a “roar.” Before passing, the measure
had to be re-introduced to the Council. And, over the next few months as work
progressed at Swope Park, entanglements between the City and the Zoological
Society delayed opening day.
Upon
completion of that first building, the Swope Park Zoo formally opened to
specimen animals on December 21, 1909. Another source mentions the Lemon
Brothers Circus wintering in Dodson (an area in Kansas City south of Waldo)
inspired the Zoological Society to purchase from them three lions, some
monkeys and a bear.
Like a
procession of Noah’s Ark, odd and wonderful creatures from around the world
populated the zoo over the next few months. By April 1910, we human animals
were enjoying the happy hirsute family in the Swope Collection.
Within a
year, a Star article reported,
“There are about as many different kinds of noises in the zoo out in Swope
Park as there are cures for a cold; and all of them going on at the same
time.”
From time
to time today, I can hear the lion’s roar all the way to my home on the east
edge of Swope Park. Happy Birthday Kansas City Zoo! You continue to be a,
“Modern Babel.”
David W. Jackson is archivist for the nonprofit Jackson County (Mo.)
Historical Society’s Archives and Research Library at 112 W. Lexington Ave.
Suite 103, Independence, MO, 64050. Explore deeper into local history topics
like those presented in this column through the Jackson County Historical Society JOURNAL, a scholarly periodical
delivered to Society members twice annually. For more information, or to
donate historical materials, visit www.jchs.org, call (816) 252-7454, or
e-mail info@jchs.org.
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