As of 2002 they have a new operating Carousel manufactured by "The Carousel Works". Also an operating miniature railroad.....---2001 'Zoo Train' sold to The Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum in Calera, Alabama..


click to travel to their website


CLICK IMAGE TO TRAVEL TO THEIR WEBSITE


The origins of the Birmingham Zoo start with a small menagerie of exotic animals kept in a Southside firehouse. As the collection grew it was moved first to Magnolia Park (now Brother Bryan Park) and then to Avondale Park. At the time, the collection consisted mainly of non-exotic animals, except for "Miss Fancy," a lone elephant donated by the Birmingham Advertising Club which had purchased it as a promotional novelty from a struggling circus stranded in the city.

As the collection grew in size and scope, city leaders contacted the Olmsted Brothers landscape architecture firm, which had drawn up plans for a system of parks in Birmingham, for advice about housing a zoological collection. They were put in contact with the few municipal zoos existing in that period and plans began for providing a new permanent home for the growing attraction.

Lane Park

Birmingham, under mayor A. O. Lane, had purchased land on the south of Red Mountain between 1889 and 1896. The former Red Mountain Cemetery, a pauper's cemetery was part of the parcel that was dedicated as a city park in 1934. The Works Progress Administration built a fish hatchery and a number of pavilions from the Hartselle sandstone quarried out of the mountain within the park's borders. The hatchery was fed by a natural spring and provided stock for recreational lakes in the region until the zoo took over the park.

The first source of post-World War II support for a new zoo came from the Birmingham Junior Chamber of Commerce. In 1946 Elton B. Stephens chaired a Jaycees committee to create a new zoo for the city of Birmingham. In 1949, then Birmingham mayor, James R. Morgan, a key supporter of the development, began an initiative to help in the planning and development of a city zoo.

Jimmy Morgan Zoo

A zoo commission was also established, and it decided to build the zoo on 50 acres (202,000 m�) of land on the southern foot of Red Mountain with a budget of $250,000. A much larger parcel of land that included the zoo parcel was incorporated into the city of Birmingham and was named Lane Park, home of the zoo as well as the neighboring botanical gardens.

The budget would be spent to build six exhibits with the opening of the zoo that included "Monkey Island," an elephant house, bear moat, birdhouse, snake pit and seal pool. The funds were raised through private donations, charter memberships, and in-kind donations from a broad base of community and business supporters.

The zoo, once known as The Jimmy Morgan Zoo, opened its doors with Monkey Island as its first official exhibit on April 2, 1955. The Jimmy Morgan Zoo operated as a quasi-private venture until city of Birmingham decided to assume responsibility in November 1955. The city changed the name to the Birmingham Zoo, and set an annual budget of $663,000 for its first year under city control.



Lane Park, originally called Red Mountain Park, is a large area on the southern slope of Red Mountain near the western terminus of Highway 280 which currently houses the Birmingham Zoo and Birmingham Botanical Gardens. The park is divided by Cahaba Road and bounded on the southeast by Lane Park Road.

The 200-acre site was purchased by the city of Birmingham in a series of transactions dating from 1889 to 1902. The first purchase was made under mayor A. O. Lane. The park included a few burial sites, associated with "pest houses" in the area, and which dated to 1888. Subsequently, Lane had a section of the site, on the west side of Cahaba Road dedicated in February 1893 as a "Potter's field" or pauper's cemetary. The cemetary, known as Red Mountain Cemetery or "South-Side Cemetery", was used for Jefferson County burials until 1909. S. F. Cunningham, sexton of the cemetary reported in 1905 that it was kept confined to a 6-acre plot on the western edge of the property. Gary Gerlach's extensive documentary research indicates that the cemetery contains 4,711 graves. A smallpox hospital was also built on the park property, just south of a quarry where curb-stones for 1st Avenue North were being obtained.

In 1896 Mayor J. A. Van Hoose proposed a reformatory and work farm be established on the rest of the property. In 1910 a tent city was erected in the area of the property near English Village to be used in the treatment of tuberculosis patients.

On January 16, 1934, the entire 200-acre parcel was dedicated by the City Council, at the request of Mayor George Ward, as a public park, named "Lane Park", to honor Ward's predecessor. His description of the area was published in a contemporary newspaper account: "This tract of land is known to carry a heavy vein of red ore deep under its surface. It is well watered, heavily timbered and picturesque. Its possibilities as Birmingham’s greatest playground and beauty spot are manifold."1.

The Works Progress Administration assisted the Birmingham Federation of Garden Clubs in the planting of 5,000 trees and shrubs to create the "Lane Park Arboretum" in 1935. The planting plan was designed by Thomas Brooks. The WPA also built a fish hatchery in the park which was fed by a natural spring and provided stock for recreational lakes in the region until the zoo took over the park.

An American Legion-MacFadden program developed the park as one of the first recreational parks for the city. Under the direction of Conrad Myrick and James Parks, a number of pavilions were erected from the Hartselle sandstone quarried out of the mountain within the park's borders. The Shades Valley Boys Club, Canterbury Methodist Church, and the city of Homewood all contributed to the park's early development.

The park site was expanded in anticipation of the creation of the Birmingham Zoo, which took up 50 acres of the enlarged park. The zoo's first exhibit, "Monkey Island", opened to the public on April 2, 1955. Another 67 1/2 acres was enclosed in 1962 when the Birmingham Botanical Gardens first opened.