The Best! Columbus Zoo and Aquarium Loves Kids

The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium just north of Columbus, Ohio in Powell is about the best place to take a child in the state. It is a megalopolis now in comparison to its former location south of Graceland Shopping Center on North High Street in the early 1900s. Few details are available about the old Columbus Zoological Company, but first mention has been found in the 1903 Columbus City Directory (in our Ohio Historical Society archives) as Columbus Zoological Gardens, High, 2 mile north of city limits. A grand opening was held on May 28, 1905, but the Zoo closed in October. Another opening was held in 1927.

In these old days, the zoo inhabited some 215 acres of land beside a group of fishing cottages that are permanent homes today beside the strip shopping center. It's fun to drive around that neighborhood of Old Beechwold and see the tiny houses. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, this was a vacation resort area outside the northern Columbus city limits. Senior citizens have remembers not only a few animals, including monkeys and elephants, but also some rides, picnic grounds, carousels, a billiard hall, and a dance pavilion.

At any rate, a zoo sprang up in 1927 with some donated animals and extended from High Street on the east to the Olentangy River on the West until about 1940. In the latter year, additional animals were acquired and the Zoo improved up to 1951. Then it moved to its current site on Riverside Drive by the Scioto River. People living in the former resort area in the decades following the move said their kids dug up large animal bones and even a sawfish head.

In 2010, the venue is a huge development with additional land yet untouched. There is plenty to see and do at the Zoo, while children and adults exercise by walking the pathways and exhibit areas. The Zoo is ADA friendly as well, accessible to people with all sorts of challenges.

I have been privileged to know a few docents at the Zoo in the past, a few people that have been foster parents to birds of the Zoo, and a few employees. I've even been able to see the "back stage" area and visited a python (who felt like plastic) and two tiger cubs. I have stayed with a friend up the road and heard the lions roaring in the morning and learned about overnight experiences at the Zoo for youth and families. I can't wait to visit again.

The 2011 Guinness World Records book shows that Fluffy the Reticulated Python from the Columbus Zoo is the longest snake in captivity -- 24ft (7.3m) long.

From 1951 to the late 1960s, the property seemed to deteriorate into muddy acreage with a few animals and a broken 1/4-scale passenger train, but we loved the elephants, tigers, monkeys, a giraffe, Colo the gorilla, and white raccoons that kids could see. Then, some additional tax funding helped to improve the grounds and animal holdings.

The Gooding Amusement Park and a picnic ground were attached to the Zoo and a carousel, which was retored and placed back into operation around the year 2000, was the centerpiece of a small, fun midway. I am happy that this carousel was restored, because after my first ride, I read Prance a Carousel Horse by Miriam Young, and was "hooked" forever on seeing hand-carved carousel horses.

The events that caused the zoo and aquarium to bloom after 1978 were the proactive moves of the City of Columbus, the voter approval of needed tax funding, and the installation of Jack Hanna as Executive Director for 14 years (now Emeritus). The changes were awesome and families with children began to flock to the Zoo. In fact, everybody that had transportation began visiting. However, in the last couple of decades, a dedicated ZOO Bus in the Columbus COTA Transit System has brought riders from Downtown to the Zoo several times a day during the warmer months.

The Zoo hosts many shows during each year and one of them is a show full of trained rescue animals that have been collected from various places and saved from euthanasia. Access the Zoo link above and look at all the things you and your family can see and do at the Columbus Zoo.