Denver Zoo - History - Mid-20th Century

Mid-20th Century

The zoo was a motley menagerie until 1906, when Mayor Robert W. Speer declared that the zoo's "rison bars can be done away with" in favor of "concrete rocks, waterfalls, trees, etc." Speer hired the city's landscape architect, Saco R. DeBoer, to draw up the plans for his renovation and appointed Victor H. Borcherdt as zoo director.

Borcherdt designed the Bear Mountain exhibit, which opened in 1918. This structure is 43 ft (13 m) tall and 185 ft (56 m) long, and cost $50,000 to build. It was built of dyed and textured concrete forms cast from Dinosaur Mountain just outside of Morrison, Colorado. Hidden moats replaced cage bars, and native plants and an artificial stream enhanced the natural look. The two main exhibits originally housed polar bears and grizzly bears. The south tip of the exhibit was designed to resemble Mesa Verde National Park. Originally it housed monkeys, but due to escape problems sea lions were housed there instead. Between 1941 and 1961 it housed a female polar bear named Velox, who became the mascot of the 31st U.S. Infantry Regiment in 1952. Velox died at the zoo in 1961 and is buried at the zoo. Bear Mountain established Denver as one of the foremost among American zoos, and the Saint Louis Zoo hired Borcherdt after seeing the exhibit.

Although other zoos in the region made extensive use of New Deal funds to upgrade their facilities, only one notable addition was made to the Denver Zoo between 1918 and 1950. Monkey Island was built in 1937 using funds from the Works Progress Administration. Mayor Benjamin F. Stapleton funded the zoo very little, and it was in poorly maintained condition when Mayor Quigg Newton was elected in 1947. Newton hired DeBoer, the architect involved with the zoo's design forty years before, to plan a rebirth. Starting with the 1950 overhaul of Monkey Island, the zoo has steadily added to and improved its exhibits.

The Denver Zoological Foundation was created in 1950, the same year that the zoo acquired its first elephant, Cookie. A Children's zoo was opened in 1951 (since replaced by Primate Panorama). A perimeter fence was built in 1957, defining the zoo as a separate area but still within City Park. Automobile traffic in the zoo was finally eliminated completely in 1959. Pachyderm Habitat was opened the same year, and Cookie was joined by a second elephant, Candy.

The zoo opened the Feline House in 1964, a Giraffe House in 1966, and an Animal Hospital in 1969. Bird World was opened in 1975, followed by the Mountain Sheep habitat in 1979, Northern Shores for polar bears, otters, and pinnipeds in 1987, and Wolf Pack Woods in 1988.

The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 made it impossible to keep the polar bears and sea lions in the Bear Mountain enclosure. This and its deteriorating condition lead to a $250,000 renovation of the exhibit starting in 1987. The exhibit reopened in 1989 with grizzly bears and Himalayan bears occupying the northern two exhibits and coatis in the southern tip.