“The Audubon Zoo is a zoo located in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is part of the Audubon Nature Institute which also manages the Aquarium of the Americas. The zoo covers 58 acres (23 ha) and is home to 2,000 animals. It… read more
“Perhaps the highest return on investment ever earned on a few thousand federal dollars came in the form of a pile of dirt in a rather forlorn park at the depth of the Depression. The agency behind it was the… read more
The Reptile Farm had originally opened in 1933 in close proximity to the Witte Museum. It would move twice before coming to this final location in 1937 when permanent stone structures replaced the temporary structures made of planks, barbed wire… read more
Works Progress Administration (WPA) laborers constructed and renovated animal houses in the Buffalo Zoo. WPA improvements at the Buffalo Zoo included work on the Sea Lion house and pool (shown above), and construction of new pens for the Sika and… read more
“Buffalo Zoo Entrance Court – funded by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA), the entry court and gates (1935-38) are the most intact surviving work of John Edmonston Brent, one of few African Americans practicing as both an architect and… read more
The Central Park Zoo was built over the course of eight months in 1934 by workers employed by the Civil Works Administration and, after that program’s demise, by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. It succeeded the old Central Park Menagerie,… read more
The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Bear Pit at the Cincinnati Zoo in Cincinnati OH. The enclosure contained three pits for polar and brown bears. The design of the exhibit sought to emulate a natural environment for… read more
The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Reptile Building at the Cincinnati Zoo in Cincinnati OH. The design of the exhibits and air conditioning system sought to emulate the natural habitat for the animals. The diorama exhibits included… read more
From an Idaho Falls city press release: “In 1934, the city of Idaho Falls purchased land in Tautphaus Park, then called ‘City Park,’ and in 1935 the first zoo animals were brought to the park. Log buildings were erected throughout… read more
The federal Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) supplied labor for the development of what is now known as the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.
The WPA constructed several structures at the Como Zoo in the 1930s. From the Como Zoo’s website: “In 1897, the City of Saint Paul fenced-in a pasture in Como Park to hold three deer gifted to them, thus beginning Como… read more
Monkey Island, built by the WPA in 1937, was the only notable New Deal addition to the Denver Zoo. It was rehabilitated in the 1950s.
New Deal agencies undertook a variety of improvements at the Detroit Zoological Park in Royal Oak, Michigan. Between 1933 and 1937, the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded and… read more
New Deal agencies undertook a variety of improvements at the Detroit Zoological Park in Royal Oak, Michigan. Between 1933 and 1937, the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded and… read more
The zoo was established in 1922, but was only developed with the help of the WPA for both labor and funds in the 1930s. The walkways, stone bridges, stone walls, and stone buildings date from the WPA development.
The Works Progress Administratio built several cages and exhibits at the Fort Worth city zoo.
The Works Progress Administration made improvements to the Franklin Park Zoo. This project sought to improve the lion house, monkey house, and build machine and carpenter shop and garage extensions and a storage building. The total cost of the proposed… read more
“In Highland Park, WPA workers built stone steps throughout the park and modernized the main zoo building.”
“In Clovis, the Curry County Court House is listed as one of the buildings built in 1936. Twila Ky Rutter, Grant Facilitator and Procurement Clerk, unable to locate a photograph of the building as it was originally, referred me to… read more
The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed buildings at the Jackson Zoological park in Mississippi. Several newer buildings are attributed to the WPA by some sources; however, the only ones documented WPA structures are the zoo’s former rhinoceros house, old… read more
Lake Superior Zoo’s website states: “The Duluth Zoo weathered through the depression years and the W.P.A. (Works Progress Administration) Program built bridges over Kingsbury Creek and many animal enclosures (including the elephant house) that are still serving the zoo today.”… read more
The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) had a great impact on War Memorial Park, including constructing “the original zoo buildings” at Little Rock Zoo.
Although the zoo was shut down in 1965, the grounds are still standing and open to the public for walking and picnics, and the site is often used in film and photo locations. A sign at the old zoo reads… read more
The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) enlarged worked to improve Memphis Zoo during the Great Depression. Federal labor installed a pair of stone lions at the entrance; constructed a metal cage for bird flight; built Monkey Island and Ibex Mountain;… read more
Concrete deck footbridge over a small ravine, abutments, two feet high on both sides with squars piers on each end, abutments built of brick faced with rock facestone, capped with limestone. Article in Evansville Courier 1/30/38 may refer to Works… read more
About 12″ high on inside, top 2′ regular finish. Stone wall on outside 4′ high, on inside depending on topography can be as much as 12′ high, wall used as fence from outside and to define outside boarder, also section… read more
Construction of a main shelter at the Myrick Park Zoo as part of a WPA project. The Zoo is currently closed.
The New Deal years 1933 to 1941 were arguably the best years in the history of the National Zoo, thanks to the many projects undertaken by the Roosevelt Administration. Labor was provided by work-relief programs — the Civil Works Administration… read more
The south wing of the Bird House at National Zoo – which had been left off the original building in 1927-28 – was constructed in 1936 with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA). It completed the the imposing, Romanesque… read more
The Elephant House at National Zoo was built in 1936-37 with a grant from the Public Works Administration (PWA). At the time, it was known as the Pachyderm House; it is also sometimes called the Large Mammal House. The… read more
The Machine and Carpenter Shops building was constructed at the National Zoo in 1936-37, with a grant from the Public Works Administration (PWA). The PWA paid for four buildings and other improvements to the zoo in the 1930s. In 1938,… read more
The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the building for a restaurant at National Zoo, constructed in 1939-40. The restaurant building still serves the public today as the Mane Cafe. In its 1939 fiscal year report, the National Zoo noted: “The Public… read more
From 1933 to 1941, New Deal relief workers added a number of new animal exhibit areas to the National Zoo, as well as improving existing enclosures. The following are sketches of the significant work performed at a dozen areas, taken… read more
The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded a Small Mammal House at the National Zoo, constructed in 1937. It was one of several buildings paid for by the PWA and many other improvements made at the zoo by New Deal relief… read more
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) made improvements to the Oakland city zoo in 1935-36 when it was located in Sequoia Park (now Joaquin Miller Park). In 1939, the zoo relocated to its present site in Durant Park in the East… read more
“Monkey Island, (converted to a bighorn sheep exhibit in the 1990s, and now removed as of 2010), was constructed by the Works Progress Administration in 1936.”
“This collection of animals was formalized as the Prospect Park Zoo on Flatbush Avenue that opened to the public on July 3, 1935. A Works Progress Administration (WPA) project, the zoo was part of a massive citywide park improvement program… read more
Multiple New Deal agencies collaborated in the development of the Pueblo Zoo, a component of the City Park complex. The stunning stone structures at the zoo (and throughout the park) are still in use. “The two-and-one-half acre zoo contains an… read more
“In 1928 the San Antonio Zoological Society, a nonprofit organization, was established to purchase animals to be housed adjoining Brackenridge and Koehler parks on a fifty-acre tract of land from a Spanish grant that belonged to the city. The site… read more
A large Spanish style structure, with arches and a red tile roof.