From the History of the Washington Park Zoo

Chas. L. Kennedy

(From the Souvenir Program of The Elephant Show at the Pabst Theater, February 12 - 13, 1906 Fundraising event for the purchase of an elephant put on by the Garfield Lodge of the Knights of Pythias.)

The bare statement that the Garfield Lodge, No. 83, Knights of Pythias, is about to contribute to the Washington Park Zoo an elephant does not in any degree present the real importance of the public-spirited enterprise which has assembled this audience tonight. Neither does the amount of money which the gift involves reflect what the present to the city means. The history of the zoo proves this and points to the great importance of this occasion. On the first day of January, 1904, the Washington Park Zoo consisted of a few deer, a bald eagle and a goat. On the first day of January, 1906, the Board of Park Commissioners were before the Common Council with a request for an appropriation of $50,000, with which to build an animal house for this feature of the city's park system. And the elephant that will be purchased with the proceeds of this entertainment by Garfield Lodge was what bestirred officialdom to this great stride toward acquiring such a handsome municipal ornament. The promise of an elephant changed the zoo from a joke into a serious matter for general public consideration and was in fact the injection of elixir required to breathe the breath of life into a movement that had languished, hovering between life and death for years. Therefore, the great importance of this enterprise and the broad results it forecasts will be measured and appreciated by posterity as the Washington Park Zoo develops. The elephant is playing the important role and long may he live as this city's guest of honor. His bulky form will stand as a milepost marking an important step in the city's advancement, and Garfield Lodge, his sponsor, will have its illustrious name inscribed on a bright page of Milwaukee's history.

The extent to which the Lodge and its patrons are genuine public benefactors is indicated above, but a little history is here set down for future reference, for that time when newspapers and historians are looking far into the past for things that were and where things that are came from. Lack of space requires that the record of the zoo be epitomized, but the essential facts do not suffer thereby. The birth of the zoo occurred twelve years ago when some deer were donated. A more backward child never was known. The deer reigned supreme as the evidence of enterprising progress until our children must have believed that the animal world was sparsely and uninterestingly populated. Official reports show that on January first, the zoo had made the wonderful growth of a bald eagle and a goat, and some sad things are said of how both came there. The eagle and the goat had bad reputations and it is hinted that they were sent to the alleged zoo more as a sentence to a house of correction for them than through any idea of public benefaction. One year later found the personnel of the zoo as follows: The same deer, the same goat, the same eagle, better because of the good company they had mingled with, and a coyote, a raccoon, three red foxes, two parrots, three owls and a monkey.

And then citizens of the Garfield Lodge stripe started to do and say things for the zoo. The elephant talk soon followed, first to be snickered at a bit and then to be lauded. Witness what the movement accomplished in a few months from this statement of the animal boarders at the Washington Park Zoo found on the register January first, 1906: Sixteen deer, one cinnamon bear, two black bears, three coyotes, eight red foxes, four porcupines, four badgers, four raccoons, one woodchuck, one South American ant bear, the same old goat (heaven preserve him!), two rabbits, eleven guinea pigs, one pheasant, two parrots, one cockatoo, five owls, three lynx, one golden eagle, two bald eagles, one turkey vulture, one monkey, and a family of weasels with white mice to burn.

That was what the prospective elephant from Garfield Lodge did in one year, besides stimulating the officials and encouraging them to build animal houses that cost $5,000 and to plan a structure that is sure to come shortly at a cost of $50,000.

It is unnecessary to dwell here upon the entertaining and educational features of a zoo or to scold anyone because Milwaukee has been backward in this respect. The start has been made and Garfield Lodge, more than any other single agency, has done so much that it is entitled to whatever honor there may be in the appellation-- "Friend of the children and father of the zoo."

Patrons of the enterprise are advised with pleasure that a keeper for the elephant to be purchased with the proceeds of this evening's entertainment has been hired by the Park Commission. The lucky brute is to live on the fat of the land with his meals served a la carte and a chambermaid to make his bed.

The proper recognition of the loyal efforts of the members who have made this event a success and the rendition of thanks to those who have given their services here, I leave to Garfield Lodge itself.