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“Longfellow Gardens, Minneapolis. Photograph Collection, Postcard ca. 1905”
A Minneapolis businessman and showman named Robert “Fish” Jones first bought a property near the edge of downtown Minneapolis in 1886.[2] He converted the 3-acre (12,000 m2) property into a zoo for the animals which he had collected since his arrival in Minneapolis in 1876.[3] These included lions, jaguars, leopards, bears, cattle and a camel.[3] The amount of animals he kept, however, soon grew and Jones was forced to move from the property on Hennepin Avenue to an area in south Minneapolis.[2] Then, in 1906, he opened the zoo to the public. He also built a house styled after the home of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, where he lived for the rest of his life.
In 1908, in a ceremony presided over by Minneota RepresentativeFrank Nye, Jones and a group of others were honored by a letter from Alice M. Longfellow, the daughter of the poet, noting her wish to some day come and visit the gardens.[1] She never came, however.
(Image via MHS Visual Resources Database. Text via Wikipedia)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4196vH1cY1qgdi7so1_1280.jpg)
“Longfellow Gardens, Minneapolis. Photograph Collection, Postcard ca. 1905”
A Minneapolis businessman and showman named Robert “Fish” Jones first bought a property near the edge of downtown Minneapolis in 1886.[2] He converted the 3-acre (12,000 m2) property into a zoo for the animals which he had collected since his arrival in Minneapolis in 1876.[3] These included lions, jaguars, leopards, bears, cattle and a camel.[3] The amount of animals he kept, however, soon grew and Jones was forced to move from the property on Hennepin Avenue to an area in south Minneapolis.[2] Then, in 1906, he opened the zoo to the public. He also built a house styled after the home of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, where he lived for the rest of his life.
In 1908, in a ceremony presided over by Minneota RepresentativeFrank Nye, Jones and a group of others were honored by a letter from Alice M. Longfellow, the daughter of the poet, noting her wish to some day come and visit the gardens.[1] She never came, however.
(Image via MHS Visual Resources Database. Text via Wikipedia)
