Cincinnati Zoo history

The first guide book about the Cincinnati Zoo was written in 1876 in German.

In 1885, Zoo directors considered a total shutdown, including selling off all the animals.

In December 1890, the Cincinnati Zoo brought in a firing squad to execute a cantankerous elephant named Old Chief.

The first English-language edition (illustrated) was published in 1893.

To increase the number of visitors, the zoo invited one hundred Sioux Native Americans to establish a village at the site in 1896.

In 1898, Cincinnati residents donated enough money to the zoo to save it from bankruptcy.

In 1901, the Cincinnati Traction Company bought a majority of the Zoological Company’s stock, gaining control of the zoo and its holdings.

The Cincinnati Traction Company’s plans failed, and in 1915, two women, Anna Sinton Taft and Mary Emery, purchased the zoo.

They operated the zoo until 1917, when the Cincinnati Zoological Park Association, funded by donations from philanthropists Mary Emery and Anna Sinton Taft and a wave of public desire to purchase the increasingly popular zoo, took over management.

A long period of government corruption was followed by one of reform and civic rejuvenation in the 1920s.

Upon these two women’s deaths, the city of Cincinnati bought the zoo in 1932.

The city’s population peaked at 504,000 in 1950 and thereafter declined, which was mirrored by steady population growth in the metropolitan area.

The Lindner Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW) was founded in 1986 to strengthen the tradition.

In 1987, parts of the zoo were designated as a National Historic Landmark, the Cincinnati Zoo Historic Structures, due to their significant architecture featured in the Elephant House, the Reptile House, and the Passenger Pigeon Memorial.