Building New Orleans: The Audubon Zoo
One of the great New Orleans "success stories" of recent years has been the Audubon Zoo. From its
cramped and dingy caged environment of the 1930s-1960s era, the Zoo emerged during the 1970s
and 1980s as one of the nation's finest. Just a fraction of the funding that brought about this
renaissance is shown in the city's 1982 Capital Budget:
- $1.5 million in state funds, $1 million in private donations, and $500,000 in Wisner Fund
contributions -- all for the Louisiana Swamp Exhibit
- $50,000 in state funds and $130,000 in property taxes -- all for a new entrance to the Zoo.
A furry
resident of
the "old" Audubon Zoo, 1937 (from NOPL's WPA Photograph
Collection).
Cashio & Cochran's plan for the
Audubon Zoo's
Asian Domain, as reproduced in the 1978 Friends of the Zoo brochure, Liberating the Animals.
Return to Capital Budget contents.
Return to Budget Exhibit contents.
