Baltimore Zoo
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| Date opened | 1876 |
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| Location | Safari Place, Druid Hill Park, 1876 Mansion House Drive Baltimore, Maryland 21217 United States |
| Coordinates | 39°19′24″N 76°38′58″W / 39.32333°N 76.64944°WCoordinates: 39°19′24″N 76°38′58″W / 39.32333°N 76.64944°W |
| Land area | 135+ acres |
| No. of animals | 2,000+ |
| Memberships | AZA |
| Public transit access |
 MondawminMTA 53 |
| Website | www |
"The Maryland Zoo" — also known as "The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore" and formerly known as the"The Baltimore City Zoo" or the "Baltimore Zoo" — is a 135-acre park located in historic Druid Hill Park in the northwestern area of the City of Baltimore, Maryland, (U.S.A.), with the postal address of 1876 Mansion House Drive. Druid Hill was opened in 1860 as the first major park purchase by the City under foreseeing Mayor Thomas Swann (1809-1883), (and later Governor of Maryland) and was later designed by famed nationally-known landscaper Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903), with additional work on various park buildings contributed by future Baltimore City Hall architect George A. Frederick (1842-1924), and Park Commissioner John H.B. Latrobe (son of earlier famed British-American architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe [1764-1820]), who also was an accomplished lawyer, author, artist, amateur architect and civic leader. Olmsted had earlier won a contest for the design of plans for New York City's famed Central Park in mid-town Manhattan in 1858, a year after it opened, and worked on the massive public works project during its construction from 1858 to 1873. The Maryland Zoo is now currently home to over 2,000 animals, and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore is generally considered to be the third oldest (or by some other circumstances, the second oldest) zoological park in the United States, having opened in 1876, sixteen years after the historic Park itself was purchased and opened to the city public. For a number of decades in the 20th century, it was operated and supervised by the Baltimore City Board of Park Commissioners, and organized in 1860 with the first major city park at Druid Hill and later the city Department of Parks and Recreation, through their subordinate Bureau of the Zoo. It was later assisted by the organization of a group of supportive friends, animal and wildlife lovers in the Baltimore City Zoological Society, which performed a saving function in the late 1960s when changing demographic and historical populations in the surrounding communities around Druid Hill Park resulted in increased crime and some harassment incidents to the animal population, resulting in a few deaths and maimings, resulted in a protective fence erected around the Zoo campus, and entrance ticketing center and gates which previously had been open to the surrounding Park. In later decades, by 2004, a course of action between the City and the Society resulted in a semi-private and new independent operation arrangement with a separate board of trustees for the Zoo with increased private, state and suburban counties funding to supplement the restricting resources of the central City. This also resulted in a renaming of the old City Zoo as "The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore." For several decades from the 1950s to the 1970s, the City Zoo was made famous locally through the media-savvy and through the new medium of television with programs and promotions of Dr. Arthur Watson, the long-time zoo director. In 1980, when the famous iconic "Harborplace" festival marketplace pavilions at the Inner Harbor by developer James Rouse, opened by downtown Baltimore's waterfront business district and its Patapsco River and Harbor, one of the stalls/stores was of stuffed and children's play fiber animals called "Dr. Watson's Zoo," owned and operated by the now retired Dr. Watson.
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