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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