1948 Official Map Chicago Zoological Park
By: Anonymous
Date: 1948 (circa) Chicago
Dimensions: 13.5 x 16.5 inches (34.3 x 41.9 cm)
This decorative pictorial map is of the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, also known as the Chicago Zoological Park. The zoo is located in the western suburb Brookfield, near Chicago.
The map depicts many of the birds and animals who live there, in their containment areas, including foreign and domestic species. All buildings and parking areas are illustrated, along with access to the zoo as it was in 1948. The zoo quickly gained international recognition for using moats and ditches instead of cages to separate animals from visitors and from other animals.
The zoo covers an area of 216 acres and is home to approximately 450 species of wildlife. The history of the zoo dates to 1919 when Edith Rockefeller McCormick donated land she had received from her father as a wedding gift to the Cook County Forest Preserve District for development as a zoological garden. The District subsequently donated 98 acres, and in 1921 the Chicago Zoological Society was established. In order to fund the project a zoo park tax was implemented in 1921 and serious construction was undertaken soon after.
The Great Depression impacted and slowed the project’s development, but by late 1931 construction had regained momentum and work progressed at a brisk pace till the zoon opened on 1 July 1934. By the end of September of that year, over one million people had visited the zoo. It remains a popular alternative to the Chicago Lincoln Park Zoo.
Condition: This cheerful colored pictorial map is in A condition with no tears or holes, but one minor stain lower left.
Inventory #11102
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