The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden

The opening of the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden sounds like a goofy family comedy, but it quickly became one of the most popular attractions in Ohio. Opening day, September 18, 1875, was overcast and chilly, a shaky start for the second zoological garden in the United States. Exhibits were unfinished, and animals remained crated. The polar bear had not arrived, and the collection on display included a feeble tiger, a blind hyena, an elephant rescued from a bankrupt circus, a talking crow,