ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



597 



OOO of its own funds in the erection of the 

 Reptile House, the Aquatic Bird-House, the 

 Bear Dens, Flying Cage and about eighteen 

 smaller installations for animals. 



As soon as the Park was thrown open the 

 public was surprised, both by the magnitude 

 of the plan and the permanence of all improve- 

 ments. Then the City of Xew York cheerfully 

 joined the Society in the remainder of the 

 work. The Society was given absolute con- 

 trol of the Park, it furnished all plans, and 

 virtually superintended all improvement work. 

 The Park Department has stood in a position 

 to safeguard all the interests of the taxpayers, 

 and has awarded and superintended all large 

 contracts for construction. 



Throughout eleven years of active improve- 

 ment business, involving nearly a hundred 

 contracts, great and small, the business of 

 financing and building the Zoological Park 

 has gone steadily on, without a single halt or 

 an unpleasant episode between the representa- 

 tives of the City and the Society. In their 

 turn, ^Mayors William L. Strong, Robert A. 

 \'an Wyck. Seth Low, and George B. 

 AlcClellan, and Comptrollers Ashbel P. Fitch, 

 Bird S. Coler, Edward M. Grout and Herman 

 A. Aletz, have cordially cooperated in the 

 work. The Park Department of The Bronx has 

 been most helpful, and we recall with particu- 

 lar pleasure the cooperation of the three long- 

 term Commissioners, August Moebus, John E. 

 Eustis and Joseph I. Berry, and their Chief 

 Engineer and Chief Clerk, Martin Schenck 

 and Gunther K. Ackermann. 



The portion of Bronx Park turned over to 

 the Society was in a condition of extreme 

 neglect. Excepting the survey and map made 

 by the Directors, no map of it existed. .Vn 

 open sewer ran through the grounds, bogs 

 were numerous, and the condition of manv 

 fine trees was deplorable. The Society took 

 hold of the forest barely in time to save these 

 trees from destruction by fire, vandalism and 

 decay. 



\'arious extensions of the original tract have 

 been secured by the Society from time to time, 

 notablv by the inclusion of an important block 

 of land at i8oth Street and Boston Road, 

 which had been acquired by the Interborough 

 Railroad Company for the purposes of railroad 

 yards. The construction of yards of that 

 sort, it is needless to say, would have de- 

 stroyed that corner of the Park, as well as 

 one of the most beautiful water-views in Xew 

 York parks. 



The Society experienced much trouble with 

 propositions to despoil the Park in various 



wa}'S, and had a long struggle to prevent the 

 construction of an elevated railroad structure 

 through the center of the Park. 



Another scheme, which was also defeated, 

 proposed cutting olT a wide strip along our 

 western boundary to widen the Southern 

 Boulevard. The demand for new entrances 

 at various points, sometimes merely for the 

 convenience of neighboring saloons, has been 

 and still is continuous. 



The straightening and widening of the 

 Boston Road is threatened at intervals, but 

 with the increasing strength and popularity 

 of this Park the danger from these attacks 

 grows less. 



The location of the terminus of the Rapid 

 Transit system at the village of West Farms, 

 on the southern boundary of the Park, forced 

 the Society to practically rearrange its original 

 entrance plan, which had provided for a grand 

 entrance from the north, through what is now 

 the Concourse and Baird Court. As the City 

 developed, new modes of approach became 

 available, and the point of entrance of the 

 largest crowds changed and will continue to 

 change. The first visitors coming in numbers 

 arrived through the entrance at the corner of 

 Southern Boulevard and Pelham /\venue ; but 

 with the construction of the Interborough 

 Railroad, the West Farms entrance became the 

 favorite, and it may be that at some future date 

 the Crotona entrance at the Southwest corner, 

 being by far the nearest to the main center of 

 the population, will become the chief point of 

 approach. 



The acquisition of a large tract of forest 

 land on the east of our present boundary, by 

 the Park Department, and the elimination of 

 the squalid little village of Bronxdale, will 

 very probably result in a readjustment of our 

 boundaries along the north and east. The 

 Society is not anxious to assume any further 

 responsibilitv for the care of additional land ; 

 but there is little doubt that all the land south 

 of Pelham .\venue will be turned over to us 

 by the City, and that as a matter of duty to the 

 public, we will be obliged to protect and main- 

 tain it. 



The Society assumed actual control of the 

 Park on .\ugust i, 1898. Work was immedi- 

 ately commenced on the Aquatic Bird-House 

 and on the Elk House, and immediately after 

 on the Reptile House and Bear Dens. On 

 Xovenilier 8th, 1899, the Park was opened to 

 the pul)lic. At that time the Committee felt 

 that the exhibit was a very expensive and 

 elaborate one, but compared with the present 



