Philadelphia Zoological Garden

The Philadelphia Zoo, located in the Centennial District of Philadelphia on the west bank of the Schuylkill River, is the first true zoo in the United States. It was chartered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on March 21st 1859, but its opening was delayed by the Civil War until July 1st 1874. For a brief time, the zoo also housed animals brought to the U.S> from safaris by the Smithsonian Institution, which had not yet built its National Zoo. Dr William Camac of Philadelphia had travelled throughout Europe in the 1850s and visited London Zoo. Upon returning to the U.S. he advocated to build a zoo in Philadelphia