Senning's Park - Zoo Days

Zoo Days

It was started in 1902 by a German immigrant to Louisville from Kesse, Germany named Frederick Carl Senning, who immigrated to the Derby City in 1868. Prior to opening the park, he and his wife Minnie founded the Senning Hotel at 2nd and Jefferson in downtown Louisville, as well as the first bowling alley in Louisville, at the corner of 8th of Main in downtown Louisville.

The park started on two and a half acres owned by Fredrika Oswald before he died. It benefitted from being only a block from the loop that electric streetcars used on Fourth Street. Initially it did not have a zoo, but instead focused on dancing and dining; picnics and political rallies were common at the facility.

The zoo was started during the Prohibition era, and barely survived the Great Depression. In 1920, the Sennings' son William began the zoo operations, with his parents going on a trip to Europe. Animals present in the zoo included alligators, bears, deer, exotic birds, leopards, lions, monkeys, ostriches (for riding), and tigers. However, the keep of the exotic animals became expensive, and in 1939 the park was closed due to Frederick Senning's death. The park was sold at auction for $15,000 the following year. The new owner, B. A. Watson, opened a restaurant on the property called Colonial Gardens, and promptly closed the zoo. Its successor, the current Louisville Zoo, would not open until 1969.