Memory Bank: A new zoo

Gov. Robert Orr stands beside a large elephant, while Indianapolis Mayor Bill Hudnut pets a baby elephant during a groundbreaking ceremony for a new zoo on Sept. 14, 1985. Washington Park Children’s Zoo, the city’s first zoo, opened in April 1964 at George Washington Park on East 30th Street. Two decades later, zoo officials wanted to expand and move the zoo to a more visible and accessible location in the heart of Indianapolis. They settled on a site in the new White River State Park, where the Indianapolis Zoo still stands today. The original zoo closed in 1987, with the Indianapolis Zoo opening shortly thereafter.