A Brief History of the El Paso Zoo

By Luis A. Menendez

El Paso, Texas has been interested in the collection, exhibition, and preservation of wild and domesticated animals since the start of the 20th century. A report from the El Paso Daily Herald dated August 9, 1900, speaks of a local taxidermist named Mr. Neisius who caught, bought, stuffed, and sold rattlesnakes and other reptiles from his shop on San Antonio Avenue.1 Due to his experience handling live animals, the people of El Paso as well as Mayor Joseph Magoffin urged Neisius to open the city's first zoo, which he did by expanding his existing taxidermy shop between 1900 and 1901. His zoo did well, eventually housing a variety of animals including grizzly bears, monkeys, a tiger, and a myriad of birds.2 The zoo, however, was a private business with profit and entertainment as its main goals, not education and preservation. As such, the city would set out to build its own public zoo with the latter in mind.

On January 19, 1910, the El Paso Herald reported that a man named J. L. Vaughn offered the city a donation of five domesticated deer he raised while working with the Mexican Central Railroad at Moctezuma, Chihuahua. The city council decided to accept these deer, which would form the nucleus of the new city zoo in Washington Park.3 Thus began the building of the El Paso Zoo in the same place it resides today.

The zoo grew steadily, reaching about 300 animals in 1940 including lions, monkeys, black bears, and mountain lions.4 Despite its size and popularity, the zoo was behind in its preservation and animal care practices. Writing for the El Paso Times in 1950, Joe Parrish criticized the El Paso Zoo for its continued use of cages and the overall dirty conditions which made the animals and visitors uncomfortable.5 Avid supporters of the zoo organized to help the city address these issues, resulting in the formation of the El Paso Zoological Society in 1960 through the approval of the city's Parks and Recreation Board.6

The new Zoological Society would go on to work alongside zoo director Raymond Arras throughout the following years as the city began an ambitious plan during the 1970s of opening a brand-new zoo with a projected 50 to 100-year expansion in mind.7 Interestingly, because of the large size envisioned for the zoo, Washington Park was ruled out many times as a location for it. Instead, possible locations for the new zoo included Castner Range and McKelligon Canyon.8

The introduction of a toll gate in 1974 earned the zoo $108,000 by December 1976. Using this new source of revenue along with city funding, the El Paso Zoo continued to improve and grow with its acquisition of sea lions and better training for its staff.9

Such was the success of the El Paso Zoo in Washington Park that the city decided not to build a new zoo, but to renovate and redesign the already existing one into the zoo that stands today. On October 10, 1980, the El Paso Herald-Post announced the plans to remodel the Washington Park zoo with the headline, "Disneyland' dream come true developed for El Paso's Zoo."10 The master plans presented to city officials then are very similar to the zoo's layout today, because they included plans for an Asian section, a North American section, and a future African section, all of which have been constructed and continue to expand.