Southwest Missouri
Dickerson Park Zoo has been a Springfield place since 1923
Dickerson Park Zoo adds a long civic memory layer to Greene County, with roots in Springfield parks, WPA-era work, and local zoo support.
Dickerson Park Zoo gives Springfield a place story that starts before most modern visitor attractions. It opened in 1923, when zoo animals that had been kept at Phelps Grove Park moved to the new site.
The Park Board’s history adds a few details that make the zoo feel rooted instead of generic. WPA work helped develop the grounds in the 1930s. In 1954, the zoo got its first elephant, Ol’ C.C., who later became the matriarch of the elephant herd for more than 50 years.
That is the kind of local memory a county page needs. Dickerson Park Zoo is a visitor stop, but it is also a Springfield parks story, a WPA-era landscape story, and a long-running civic support story through Friends of the Zoo.
Use the Park Board pages for current hours, animal areas, accessibility, and education programs.
Where to see it
- Dickerson Park Zoo
Use the Park Board page for zoo history and visit links.
References
Where this fits: this note belongs to Greene County. See every local note for the county on its page.