Fort Worth Zoo - History

History

When the Fort Worth zoo opened in 1909, it had one lion, two bear cubs, an alligator, a coyote, a peacock and a few rabbits. From its opening until 1991, the zoo was owned and operated by the City of Fort Worth. Although the city collected money from the community to purchase new animals, the Zoological society (now the Fort Worth Zoological Association) was formed in 1939 to help raise additional funds.

Monkey Island was created in 1937 with funds from the Works Progress Administration. In 1949 this exhibit became a sea lion pool, and by 1970 it had been converted to house small South American mammals. Storks and cranes called it home in the 1980s, and it was converted again in the early 1990s to house alligators. Now it contains Parrot Paradise.

The Herpetarium was completed in the summer of 1960 and was an indoor exhibit measuring 117 by 55 feet (17 m). Boasting the largest exhibit of reptiles and amphibians in the world (with 175 vivaria and about 200 species), the facility also included a zoo hospital and quarantine room. Features such as refrigerated air, operational skylights, temperature controlled water, switch operated emergency alarms, and state-of-the-art service facilities, made the Herpetarium a marvel of technology for its time. Innovative exhibits such as a display of giant snakes with curved non-reflective glass (creating the illusion of an open-fronted exhibit) were especially popular attractions. The main public area included five exhibit halls covering various geographic regions and another area that was devoted exclusively to amphibians. There were also special exhibits teaching the identification of native venomous snakes and treatment for snakebite.

In October 1991 the Fort Worth Zoological Association assumed management of the zoo under a contract with the city. In 1992 the zoo opened the first two of a series of exhibits: World of Primates and Asian Falls. During the rest of the decade, the zoo opened Raptor Canyon, Asian Rhino Ridge, and an education center in 1993, a cheetah exhibit in 1994, Flamingo Bay, a Komodo dragon exhibit, and Insect City in 1995, Meerkat Mounds in 1997, a new veterninary center in 1998, and Thundering Plains (now closed) in 1999.

The first decade of the new millennium saw the opening of Texas Wild! in 2001 to showcase native Texas animals, Parrot Paradise in 2004, Great Barrier Reef in 2005 as part of a renovated Australian Outback exhibit, and the penguin exhibit in 2008. This decade also saw the closing of the original Herpetarium in 2009 to be replaced by the Museum of Living Art in 2010.