Beardsley Zoo
Encyclopedia
The park
In 1878, James W. Beardsley, a wealthy farmer, donated over 100 acres (40.5 ha) of hilly, rural land bordering on the Pequonnock RiverPequonnock River
The Pequonnock River is a waterway in eastern Fairfield County, Connecticut, flowing through the city of Bridgeport. The river has a penchant for flooding, particularly in spring since the removal of a retention dam in Trumbull in the 1950s. There seems to be a sharp difference of opinion among...
with a distant view of Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, located in the United States between Connecticut to the north and Long Island, New York to the south. The mouth of the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook, Connecticut, empties into the sound. On its western end the sound is bounded by the Bronx...
to the city of Bridgeport on condition that "the city shall accept and keep the same forever as a public park...." In 1881, the city contracted Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted was an American journalist, social critic, public administrator, and landscape designer. He is popularly considered to be the father of American landscape architecture, although many scholars have bestowed that title upon Andrew Jackson Downing...
, famous for creating New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
, to create a design for Beardsley Park. Olmsted described the existing land as "pastoral, sylvan and idyllic" and, in 1884, delivered his plan for a simple, rural park for the residents to enjoy: "[The land donated by Beardsley] is thoroughly rural and just such a countryside as a family of good taste and healthy nature would resort to, if seeking a few hours' complete relief from scenes associated with the wear and tear of ordinary town life.... It is a better picnic ground than any possessed by the city of New York, after spending twenty million on parks.... The object of any public outlay upon it should be to develop and bring out these distinctive local advantages, and make them available to extensive use in the future by large numbers of people."
Fredrick Law Olmsted was the principal architect of the site. Architect Joseph W. Northrup designed Island Bridge, a bridge to an island in the park. In 1909, the city erected a statue created by Charles Henry Niehaus
Charles Henry Niehaus
Charles Henry Niehaus , was an American sculptor, born in Cincinnati, Ohio.-Education:Niehaus began working as a marble and wood carver and then gained entrance to the McMicken School of Design in Cincinnati and later studied at the Royal Academy in Munich, Germany...
in honor of Beardsley at the park’s Noble Avenue entrance. Beardsley Park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1999.
The zoo
The city of Bridgeport was also home to Phineas T. Barnum and his world famous circus. At the time of the park's creation, Barnum exercised his animals through the streets of Bridgeport, and people gathered in Beardsley Park to see zebras and camels walking by.In 1920, Bridgeport Parks Commissioner Wesley Hayes began a campaign to create a city zoo within the park. He requested that the citizens of Bridgeport contribute animals to start the zoo. In the first year there were eighteen exotic birds donated. As of 1927, the zoo had acquired a variety of exotic animals, including a camel donated by the Barnum and Bailey Circus.
In 1997, the Connecticut Zoological Society, a nonprofit support group for the zoo, purchased the zoo from the city. The society continues to run the zoo as a private, nonprofit institution with assistance from the state of Connecticut and the city of Bridgeport.
Features
The Beardsley Zoo is divided up into five sections:- Rainforest - includes anacondaAnacondaAn anaconda is a large, non-venomous snake found in tropical South America. Although the name actually applies to a group of snakes, it is often used to refer only to one species in particular, the common or green anaconda, Eunectes murinus, which is one of the largest snakes in the world.Anaconda...
s, poison dart frogPoison dart frogPoison dart frog is the common name of a group of frogs in the family Dendrobatidae which are native to Central and South America. These species are diurnal and often have brightly-colored bodies...
s, ibisIbisThe ibises are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae....
, caiman, ocelotOcelotThe ocelot , pronounced /ˈɒsəˌlɒt/, also known as the dwarf leopard or McKenney's wildcat is a wild cat distributed over South and Central America and Mexico, but has been reported as far north as Texas and in Trinidad, in the Caribbean...
s, saki monkeySaki monkeySakis, or saki monkeys, are any of several New World monkeys of the genus Pithecia. They are closely related to the bearded sakis of genus Chiropotes.-Range:...
s, howler monkeyHowler monkeyHowler monkeys are among the largest of the New World monkeys. Fifteen species are currently recognised. Previously classified in the family Cebidae, they are now placed in the family Atelidae. These monkeys are native to South and Central American forests...
s, and Pygmy MarmosetPygmy MarmosetThe pygmy marmoset or dwarf monkey is a New World monkey native to the rainforest canopies of western Brazil, southeastern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, and northern Bolivia. It is one of the smallest primates, and the smallest true monkey, with its body length ranging from...
s. - Predator - contains Siberian tigers, lynxLynxA lynx is any of the four Lynx genus species of medium-sized wildcats. The name "lynx" originated in Middle English via Latin from Greek word "λύγξ", derived from the Indo-European root "*leuk-", meaning "light, brightness", in reference to the luminescence of its reflective eyes...
, and spectacled bearSpectacled BearThe spectacled bear , also known as the Andean bear and locally as ukuko, jukumari or ucumari, is the last remaining short-faced bear and the closest living relative to the Florida spectacled bear and short-faced bears of the Middle Pleistocene to Late Pleistocene age.The spectacled bear is a...
s. - Aviary - holds a wide variety of duckDuckDuck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...
s, American alligatorAmerican AlligatorThe American alligator , sometimes referred to colloquially as a gator, is a reptile endemic only to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the two living species of alligator, in the genus Alligator, within the family Alligatoridae...
s, foxFoxFox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
es, otterOtterThe Otters are twelve species of semi-aquatic mammals which feed on fish and shellfish, and also other invertebrates, amphibians, birds and small mammals....
s, white-tailed deerWhite-tailed DeerThe white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...
, and bald eagleBald EagleThe Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...
s. - Hoofstock - features Andean condorAndean CondorThe Andean Condor is a species of South American bird in the New World vulture family Cathartidae and is the only member of the genus Vultur...
s, three species of wolf (grayGray WolfThe gray wolf , also known as the wolf, is the largest extant wild member of the Canidae family...
, redRed WolfThe red wolf is a North American canid which once roamed throughout the Southeastern United States and is a glacial period survivor of the Late Pleistocene epoch...
, and manedManed WolfThe maned wolf is the largest canid of South America, resembling a large fox with reddish fur.This mammal is found in open and semi-open habitats, especially grasslands with scattered bushes and trees, in south, central-west and south-eastern Brazil The maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) is the...
), peccariesPeccaryA peccary is a medium-sized mammal of the family Tayassuidae, or New World Pigs. Peccaries are members of the artiodactyl suborder Suina, as are the pig family and possibly the hippopotamus family...
, prairie dogPrairie dogPrairie dogs are burrowing rodents native to the grasslands of North America. There are five different species of prairie dogs: black-tailed, white-tailed, Gunnison's, Utah and Mexican prairie dogs. They are a type of ground squirrel, found in the United States, Canada and Mexico...
s, bisonBisonMembers of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
, PronghornPronghornThe pronghorn is a species of artiodactyl mammal endemic to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is often known colloquially in North America as the prong buck, pronghorn antelope, or simply antelope, as it closely resembles the true antelopes of the Old World and...
s, and a turkey vultureTurkey VultureThe Turkey Vulture is a bird found throughout most of the Americas. It is also known in some North American regions as the Turkey Buzzard , and in some areas of the Caribbean as the John Crow or Carrion Crow...
. - Farmyard - contains a collection of domestic breeds.
The zoo also has a carousel
Carousel
A carousel , or merry-go-round, is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders...
and one of the largest greenhouse
Greenhouse
A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...
s in Connecticut. At the entrance to the zoo, a pair of brick buildings that had served as trolley
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
barns for the city of Bridgeport now hold administrative offices.