Dennis Saul
In the 1890s, the Bronx Zoo was not yet a world-famous institution filled with exotic animals. For most of the decade, it was an ambitious idea, a grand plan taking shape on a rugged, semi-wild tract of land in the northern section of New York City. The story of the zoo in this period is one of design, determination, and heavy construction.
The project began officially in 1895 with the founding of the New York Zoological Society. This group of wealthy and influential citizens, including Theodore Roosevelt and Madison Grant, shared a vision for a new kind of zoological park. They wanted to move beyond the small, cramped cages of traditional menageries and create a space where animals could live in larger enclosures that resembled their natural habitats. They successfully lobbied the City of New York, which granted the Society 250 acres of undeveloped land within Bronx Park.
In 1896, the Society hired William Temple Hornaday to be the park’s first director. Hornaday was a nationally recognized zoologist, taxidermist, and fierce conservationist. He arrived with a clear and revolutionary vision. He insisted that the park’s design prioritize the well-being of the animals and provide a more educational and engaging experience for the public. He immediately began working with the architectural firm Heins & LaFarge to lay out a master plan.
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The plan was for a sprawling park with a formal central court of ornate, Beaux-Arts style buildings, surrounded by a landscape of meadows, forests, and large, fenced-in ranges. Construction began in earnest in 1897. The work was immense. It involved clearing dense woods, blasting through solid Fordham gneiss rock to create pathways, and damming the Bronx River to form new ponds.
As construction crews worked, Director Hornaday was already acquiring the zoo’s first residents. He secured a herd of American bison, a species he was famously working to save from extinction, and housed them temporarily elsewhere until their large new range in the park was complete.
By the autumn of 1899, the first phase of construction was finished. The main entrance was ready, and several key buildings were complete, including the Reptile House, the Aquatic Bird House, and the Bear Dens. On November 8, 1899, the New York Zoological Park officially opened its gates to the public for the first time. On that day, visitors could see 843 animals representing 149 different species. They walked along newly laid paths to see alligators and crocodiles in the Reptile House, flocks of waterfowl on the ponds, and bears climbing the rockwork of their state-of-the-art dens. The grand Lion House and Elephant House were still under construction, but the core of the new zoo was in place, ready to begin its first full decade.
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