#524 Not My monkey Not My circus

 Fun Fact #524

Not My Monkey, Not my Circus

In 1911, William Lanthrop donated his farmland to The Rockford Park district and helped them to renovate it into a beautiful riverside park now called “BlackHawk Park” (101 15th Avenue, on the East side of the River). Later as The Rockford Zoological association formed they requested to have authority to build a Zoo on that land which was approved after the Ringling Circus Donated “Babe The Elephant” allowing the Zoo to open in 1919.  

When The Zoo first opened, most of the attractions were local animals which had been captured making them much easier to obtain and care for. Some of their attractions were of a more exotic nature however including “Uncle Tom’s Monkeys” ( a shack of privately owned monkeys), A Bengal Tiger, a Buffalo, and of course Babe The Elephant. Overall the park was quite successful, but there was a problem, no one told the Rockford Zoological association just how much elephants need to eat. Soon after opening they would learn of their mistake, as the animal took almost $3,000 in food costs alone (roughly $54,772 in 2024) which ate up more than the zoo’s entire budget. The Zoo soon instituted memberships $5 annually, Contributors at $25-$50 a year, or Lifetime memberships for $250. Then in 1920, Treasurer A.W. Floberg would institute a donation Box specifically for Babe, but it wasn't enough to offset the cost. Finally after the Park District refused to expand their budget as the District itself couldn't afford the elephant, the park was shut down in 1921. The former editor of the Rockford Register Star –Chad Brooks– would write “Babe… Presumably went on to her heart’s content at someone else’s expense.”

Yet even just as it’s story came to an end the Zoo was overshadowed by the story that –Rockford resident– Mr. Charles Lindstedt had located his two cousins and friend alive, who had been feared lost after they had been on The Titanic when it sank. The reason why they were almost 10 years late in coming home after being rescued from the accident was never publicly disclosed.