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    Oklahoma City Zoo: 1960-2013
    Oklahoma City Zoo: 1960-2013
    Oklahoma City Zoo: 1960-2013
    Ebook225 pages53 minutes

    Oklahoma City Zoo: 1960-2013

    By Amy Dee Stephens

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    What started as a small menagerie in 1902 officially became Oklahoma City Zoo in 1903. Journey through the second half century of its illustrious history in Oklahoma City Zoo: 1960 2013. Meet the staff and animals and explore the exhibits that propelled it from a third-class animal facility to one of the best zoos in the United States. In the 1960s, its animal population exploded as knowledge of animal care improved. The zoo soon assembled the largest-known collection of hoofed animals. Later, a rare mountain gorilla named M Kubwa stole newspaper headlines, a third leopard escaped, and the zoo met its first cheetah babies. The opening of Aquaticus in the 1980s brought the ocean to the prairie in the form of a dolphin and sea lion show. Elephants, however, remain the queen attraction at the Oklahoma City Zoo. In 2011, the birth of the zoo s first baby elephant baby, Malee, was a crowning achievement in its 110-year history.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateAug 18, 2014
    ISBN9781439646823
    Oklahoma City Zoo: 1960-2013
    Author

    Amy Dee Stephens

    Amy Dee Stephens is the education supervisor and historian for the Oklahoma City Zoo. In 2011, she curated the opening of the zoo�s history museum, the Patricia and Byron J. Gambulos Zoozeum. Her previous book, Oklahoma City Zoo: 1902�1959, covers the zoo�s first half century.

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      Book preview

      Oklahoma City Zoo - Amy Dee Stephens

      Journal.

      INTRODUCTION

      The community is very invested in the history of our zoo. Zoo memories are part of growing up in Oklahoma City.

      —Bert Castro, zoo director, July 2005

      The Oklahoma City Zoo began in 1902 when a deer was donated to a park near downtown Oklahoma City. Eleven decades later, the zoo was a forerunner in animal care, exhibit design, and conservation. The story of the Oklahoma City Zoo’s development interweaves with the history of the city, national economy, and the diversity of people entering its gates. After 110 years, it was clear that although animals had the spotlight, the financial decision-making by the zoo and Zoological Society truly moved the zoo toward first-class status.

      The zoo had humble beginnings. Local citizens donated native animals from around their homes to Wheeler Park. On September 7, 1903, the growing menagerie of animals was dedicated as Wheeler Park Zoo. The zoo relocated to a new site in 1924 and was renamed Lincoln Park Zoo. Economic challenges followed, but the community helped the city’s parks department feed and pay for the animals’ care. Even during the Great Depression, citizens raised money to buy Luna the elephant, an effort that was repeated for Judy the elephant in 1949.

      A key moment in the zoo’s development came during the 1930s, when the Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Progress Administration established work camps on zoo property. Many of their structures still existed into the 2010s, including the bathhouse, grottos, and the zoo’s amphitheater.

      The city hired Leo Blondin as its first zoo director in 1930. He created a welcoming environment for families seeking to escape the hardships of the Depression. Blondin’s successor, Julian Frazier, excelled at developing fundraising campaigns to buy new animals. Children raised pennies to buy seals, giraffes, orangutans, Mathilda the hippopotamus, and the best-loved animal of the century, Judy the elephant.

      The 1960s began a new era for the zoo, one that focused upon animal conservation and research. Although the circus-like atmosphere continued for a while, directors Dr. Warren Thomas and Phillip Ogilvie took a more serious approach to the zoo as a business. Both believed that guests should learn about the animals and that zoos might be the last hope for disappearing species. They began collecting large varieties of animals from around the world. The zoo, renamed the Oklahoma City Zoo, became famous for its hoofed animals.

      The zoo’s nonprofit support group, the Zoological Society, formed in 1928. When philanthropist John Kirkpatrick was elected president in 1963, he surrounded himself with brilliant businessmen who provided financial advice and direction. Kirkpatrick is credited as having had the greatest impact on the zoo’s future, both financially and foundationally. Under his leadership, a plan was enacted to separate from the parks department, to operate under a public trust, and to accrue tracts of land while it was still available, all of which occurred over a 20-year period. As a result, the zoo grew to 550 acres, which prevented it from becoming landlocked like many other city zoos.

      In 1975, the Zoological Trust was formed, comprised of trustees from the Zoological Society, the mayor, and city councilmen. Trust governance allowed the zoo to maintain city ties yet make financial decisions independent of government funding. Although Oklahoma City Zoo was not the first zoo to form a trust, it was one of the early zoos to do so, and the benefit was evident, as many zoos and museums looked to the zoo as a model into the 2010s. Such forward thinking during the John Kirkpatrick era allowed the zoo to grow, rather than just maintain operations.

      Lawrence Curtis became zoo director in 1970. He embraced a new form of exhibit design that was more naturalistic. Curtis directed the opening of the zoo’s first habitat-themed exhibit, Condor Cliffs, followed by Galapagos Islands and the beginning construction of Aquaticus in the early 1980s. Working closely with the Zoological Society, over five million dollars was raised for Aquaticus, the zoo’s first major exhibit. Following the same formula, the zoo would tackle two mega exhibits per decade for the next 20 years.

      After 15 years in Oklahoma City, Lawrence Curtis resigned and Steve Wylie took over for the next 15 years. Wylie formalized many of the zoo’s procedures and focused on exhibits that immersed the visitor in a habitat. He oversaw the zoo’s accreditation as a botanical garden, and visitors no longer described the zoo as red dirt and concrete but as lush and beautiful. The master plan that was developed under Wylie allowed for the upgrading of visitor amenities, from rides to restrooms. Taking a temporary step back from animal exhibits, the zoo expanded the education center and built a new entrance and indoor restaurant, which helped to accommodate the growing number of zoo visitors—nearly a million annually by the end of the 2000s.

      As zoo directors came and went, their impact became evident. Ideas carried down from prior decades reached fruition, and new directors carried on with ongoing projects, adding their own unique contributions. According to Bob Hammock, trust chairman in the 2000s, the passage of the 1/8-cent sales tax in 1990 was a landmark moment for the zoo. The financial influx allowed the zoo to create large-scale exhibits and maintain current ones. Soon, visitors came to expect new attractions on a regular basis.

      In the 1990s, the zoo designed exhibits that represented taxonomical groupings of animals. Geographical exhibits took the forefront again in the 2000s, as they had in the 1970s. Oklahoma Trails, which opened in 2007 under Castro, was a 30-year-old vision, but timely because of Oklahoma’s centennial. Modern methods allowed the zoo to create an exhibit that was far more than a collection of native animals. Oklahoma Trails represented the 11 eco-regions of the state, from prairies to forests to swamps. The landscape and plantings changed dramatically as visitors walked along the planked trail. Castro included all employees in the brainstorming of Oklahoma Trails, and the result was a well-rounded exhibit that represented animals, plants, and culture. A subtle story line revealed how Oklahoma formed in 1889 as a result of the Land Run. Antique farm equipment, photographs from the early 1900s, and the construction of a concrete sod barn represented human interactions with animals, which was to become a key emphasis for the zoo in

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