Fort Worth Zoological Park

The zoo opened in 1909 with one African lion, two bear cubs, an alligator, a coyote, a peacock and a few rabbits, according to Wikipedia's history. The city owned and ran it until 1991. A zoological society, now the Fort Worth Zoological Association, formed in 1939 to raise money for animals the city budget did not cover. The Works Progress Administration paid for Monkey Island in 1937, and the Herpetarium opened in 1960. In October 1991 the association took over management under a contract with the city, and new exhibits began in 1992.

What the plaque says

Fort Worth Zoological Park The oldest continuous Zoo site in Texas, the Fort Worth Zoological Park has provided its visitors with many recreational and educational opportunities since 1909. The first Zoo in Fort Worth was a small menagerie then located in an old City Park and operated by the newly established Park Board. After a 1909 flood destroyed the animal collection, George Vinnedge, the city's first Park Superintendent, chose this site for a new Zoo. Over the years, the Zoo has experience a steady growth in facilities and additions to its collection, largely due to community support and concern. (1983)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame — 1.6 mi
  A hall of fame begun in Hereford in 1975 to honor rodeo women, widened in 1977 to Western heritage, and housed in Fort Worth's Cultural District since 2002.
• Kimbell Art Museum — 1.9 mi
  Louis Kahn's cycloid-vaulted museum of 1972, built from Kay Kimbell's bequest and joined in 2013 by Renzo Piano's pavilion for the exhibitions the Kahn galleries could not hold.
• Tarrant County Courthouse — 2.9 mi
  A pink-granite courthouse of 1895 on the bluff where the Army set up Fort Worth in 1849, in a county named for the man who led the 1841 attack on the Native villages of Village Creek.
• Fort Worth Stockyards — 4.7 mi
  The brick-street cattle market where Armour and Swift built packing plants in 1902, now a National Register district with a Coliseum, a museum and a longhorn drive twice a day.

More markers nearby

• Texas Log Cabins — steps away
• First Hundred Years of Texas Christian University — 0.9 mi
• Mary Daggett Lake — 1.1 mi
• Elizabeth Boulevard — 1.5 mi