Two weeks ago we wished you Happy Pride Month and last week we wished you a Happy National Accordion Awareness Month. Now this week we’re wishing you a Happy National Zoo and Aquarium month! And here in Brooklyn we have the Prospect Park Zoo which began as a 19th century menagerie. On July 3, 1935, Parks Commissioner Robert Moses rebuilt it as a formalized city zoo. By the late 20th century the zoo was in need of repair. It closed in 1988 for a $37 million renovation. It reopened in 1993, completely modernized into an education and conservation center. Today it is home to nearly 400 animals and became the first to successfully propagate the endangered Chinese big-head turtle. In this photo from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle we see a giant anteater in a cage at the Prospect Zoo in 1951.
Interested in seeing more photos from CBH’s collections? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images, or the digital collections portal at Brooklyn Public Library. We welcome appointments to research our entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections. Our reference staff is available to help with your research! You can reach us at cbhreference@bklynlibrary.org.
This blog post reflects the opinions of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of Brooklyn Public Library.
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