As much as I enjoy writing these A to Z posts, I am delighted to say this is my last one for another year! Z is for the Oregon Zoo, which is located in Washington Park, 2 miles from downtown. It opened in 1888 when a private animal collector, Richard Knight, donated two bears to the City of Portland, making it the oldest North American zoo west of the Mississippi. Knight began collecting wild animals and keeping them in the back of his drugstore on Third & Morrison, until it got to be too much for him to handle. By 1894 the zoo had over 300 animals. The 64-acre zoo is Oregon’s largest paid attraction, with more than 1.6 million visitors a year.

First animals in the Oregon Zoo–such a sad little cage.

The zoo gained real popularity when it bought Rosy, an Asian elephant, and then became even more popular when Packy was born in 1962…the first elephant born in the Western Hemisphere in 44 years, and the tallest Asian elephant in the U.S. (10.5 feet tall). Since then, 28 more elephants have been born at the zoo in the most successful zoo elephant breeding program in the world. On August 23, 2008 (my oldest son’s birthday), Samudra was born. My 7-year-old Nicholas was obsessed with Samudra when he was little, after we went to see the baby elephant shortly after his second birthday. He thinks of Samudra as “his” elephant. Of all three of our boys, Nicholas is the one who has loved the zoo and the animals the most.


In November 2012, Samudra had a little sister, Lily. The zoo’s elephant program has been mired in controversy, though, as animal rights activists seek to free the elephants. If you want to see some cuteness, watch Lily’s first year in two minutes.

I have many childhood memories from visiting the zoo, which was different when I was younger. The zoo used to have a scary Halloween zoo train–I remember my sister hiding under the seat when we were going through the completely dark tunnel! The zoo train is one of my favorite things about the zoo–that and the otters and sea lions.

Old entrance to the zoo

We’ve been to a few concerts at the zoo, the most recent being Cyndi Lauper in 2010. Here are some zoo photos through the years. Enjoy!