Animals and The Zoological Gardens
Jones had a bear imported and tethered in front of his market to both amuse and scare customers. He also owned a camel and tigers which he kept on the third floor of his building in downtown Minneapolis. His fondness for animals was such that in 1886 he sold his fish market and moved west down Hennepin Avenue. On a three-acre farm, he built a zoo in which he put six lions from South Africa, cougars and other animals.
In 1906, Jones sold his zoo to the Roman Catholic Church who built the Basilica of St. Mary on its site after receiving complaints about noise from neighbors. He moved his zoo a quieter portion of town, the area around Minnehaha Falls. He rebuilt his zoo as the Longfellow Zoological Gardens, and a ⅔ scale replica of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's house where he lived. He built his zoo up and by the late 1920s, it included a polar bear, seals and elephants.
Read more about this topic: Robert "Fish" Jones
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