The History of the Oklahoma City Zoo- A Photo Essay

Over the past century, the Oklahoma City zoo has grown to become the third best zoos in the nation. (According to 10Best.com's 10Bestie Awards)

The Oklahoma City Zoo first began at Wheeler Park when a deer was donated to the park in 1904. In 1909 it was given the name Lincoln Park Zoo. 

The zoo has a long history of motivating the public to be involved in many aspects of the zoo. For example, in 1949 Judy the Elephant was acquired through "Children's Pennies for a New Elephant" campaign. 

In the 1960's, the Zoo established an Education Center to promote conservation awareness and efforts through programs, activities, and seminars for people of all ages. The building was given a remodel in 1998 to provide more classrooms and a large auditorium.

Glass exhibits were first introduced with the creation of the Great EscApe exhibit and later with the completion of the Cat Forest and Lion Overlook exhibits. These glass exhibits offer people of all ages to get up close with the animals without having their vision obstructed by fences.

The zoo has created several events where proceeds are donated to endangered animal conservation. One of these programs, Bowling for Rhinos, was created in 1996 and helps raise money for Rhino conservation in Africa. Rhino conservation is needed more than ever with the recent declaration of extinction of the West African Black Rhino in the wild within this last year.

The Children's Zoo was first created in 1965. It was reopened in 2010 with new features including a barnyard, koi pond, water play area, and more.

Rides were first introduced to the zoo in 1999 with the carousel. Since then they have grown to include swan boats, a safari boat ride, a children's train, and more!

Opened in 2011, the zoo's Asia-themed elephant exhibit is state of the art and one of the largest elephant exhibits in the country.

Built in 1935, the bathhouse once served as a place where guests could change into swimwear before swimming with the elephants in zoo lake. It was later shut down for fear of spreading polio and was left vacant or used as a storage building for many years. In 2011, it was renovated to be the ZooZeum. The first museum of it's kind, the ZooZeum is dedicated to preserving the history of the Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Gardens and sharing it's history, records, and memories with zoo guests.