Today, zoos top the list for field trips and vacation destinations. They are a favorite for every family, bringing a summer of fun, exploration and education to kids and parents alike.

The first zoos were really private collections created by the wealthy to broadcast their affluence and importance. Called menageries, they were found as early as 2500 B.C. in Mesopotamia. Amassed via expeditions to distant and remote places, the first specimens were the exotics like giraffes, elephants, bears and dolphins. Barbary lions from the wilds of North Africa, now basically extinct, were housed in London’s tower by 1210 during the reign of King John. Those built in Vienna in 1752 and Paris in 1793 were Europe’s first public zoos.

Central Park Zoo, the first public zoo in the U.S., opened in New York in 1860, followed by Philadelphia’s in 1874.

In 1887, William Temple Hornaday, chief taxidermist at the Smithsonian, was troubled by the loss of large herds of American bison. So he formed a small collection of North American animals, bison among them, which would later form the nucleus of the animals at Washington’s National Zoological Park. That first collection was housed on the Mall until 1891, when Frederick Law Olmsted designed the present-day National Zoo within Rock Creek Park in northwest Washington D.C.

The Milwaukee County Zoo began in 1892 as a miniature mammal and bird display in Milwaukee’s Washington Park. By the turn of the last century, it had grown to more than 800 animals on 23 acres of land. The zoo was moved to a new 200-acre wooded site in 1958, now home to more than 3,300 animals and 377 species.

Sheboygan had its own small zoo, located in Vollrath Park, for more than four decades.

The 26-acre park was once part of the Vollrath estate; in fact, the location of their country home. Jacob Vollrath’s heirs donated the land to the city in 1917 with the proviso that the mound on the north side toward the lake be left as a memorial to the family patriarch as it was a favorite meditation spot, and it was there that the zoo would be built.

The city began improvements to the site in 1927 when the lagoon was constructed and flagstone steps were built. Flower beds were added in 1928. During 1929 and 1930 the amphitheater was completed, and a playground was added. It was during this period that construction of the zoo began. A pair of white swans were the zoo’s first permanent residents.

Formal dedication of Vollrath Bowl and the park took place on Aug. 23, 1931. An impressive ceremony, more than 20,000 people attended.

That early zoo curiously also had a small number of Rocky Mountain elk. But, very quickly, the elk became a problem. The gang (scientific name) of elk had to be moved to Evergreen Park because they had “developed a wild disposition during the winter.” Perhaps size and difficulty of management for the enormous creatures was overlooked.

June of 1934 saw two fawns born at the zoo. The zoo had four buck and two doe. The oldest buck came from Columbus, Wis., and the youngest buck came from Sturgeon Bay. The zoo looked to acquire a number of other animals at that time. Specifically, it was looking for one male badger, one male opossum, one female red fox, one pair of porcupines, one female wolf, one female wood duck, one female pin-tail duck, one female mutant pheasant and one male canvas-back duck.

The Kiddie Ranch was started in 1949. This was a miniature corral filled with sheep, guinea pigs, rabbits and goats. The resident goats were walked through the park on leashes each day for all to see.

In 1941, Sadie, a female African lion, came from the Sterling Brothers’ indoor circus. She consumed about 12 pounds of meat per day during the winter. It's rumored she was buried in Dr. Eigenberger’s backyard on Greendale Road. In 1948 a mother bear with her four cubs were the big attractions at the zoo.

By 1953, 5,000 to 6,000 people visited the park each summer. The zoo boasted two western burros, four green monkeys, two capuchin monkeys and two badgers as residents. The oldest resident of the zoo was a 23-year-old bear who did an occasional trick.

A kinkajou, normally native to Central and South America, was donated in 1971 after it showed up on someone’s front porch. Though outside the zoo's North American purview, it was taken in and cared for. The zoo also took in abandoned animals. It was a predecessor of the Humane Society in the city.

By 1972 the zoo had fallen on hard times. Expensive and labor-intensive to manage, it was described as having leaky pipes, over-crowded and out-of-date. Because of its advanced stage of deterioration, the 45-year-old zoo was closed by the city council in 1976.

All the animals in Sheboygan’s first (and only) zoo were sold or, in the case of farm animals, returned to the original donors, or given to other zoos in the Midwest. Some of the recipient zoos gave local authorities an assurance of “animal credit.” This meant if Sheboygan opened a new zoo, the city would get help in obtaining another collection of animals.

Though gone for 40 years, thousands of children, now grown, have fond memories of the little zoo on the shore of Lake Michigan.

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