This vintage postcard shows the Pittsburgh Zoo in 1910 on a particularly bright sunny day. The Pittsburgh Zoo opened in June, 1989 on the present site in Highland Park, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh on the Allegheny River north of the city.
The Pittsburgh Zoo: A 100-Year History, by Rachel Colker’s, notes that Pittsburgh had a handful of zoos prior to the Highland Park facility. The largest of them was in Schenley Park which boasted more than 350 animals, including an elephant named “Gusky.”
The Pittsburgh Zoo land was donated by the city of Pittsburgh in an agreement with philanthropist Christopher Lyman Magee, who contributed over $100,000 to the construction of the buildings and animal structures on the site in Highland Park.
Today, the zoo still sits on the same site as shown in this vintage postcard, but has gone through several transformations since its conception. Since the 1980’s the zoo has been transformed to incorporate the latest in natural habitats, enabling animals to roam as they would in the wild. The grand view of the Pittsburgh Zoo in this old postcard shows the scope with which it was built. The Zoo today is only bigger and better for visitors from around the world.