Well when I started the zoo in 1963, Marlin Perkins had just been at the zoo about six months and he followed George Vierheller who had been at the zoo for about 40 years. The St. Louis Zoo was in Forest Park. The Forest Park was established about 1875. And at that time, it was established as a city zoo, but it was really way out in the country. City of St. Louis at that time was part of St. Louis County. St. Louis County is a very, very big county. Later the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County split and the City of St. Louis became a county in itself and then Forest Park was included in the city. There were animals in Forest Park, but there were animals in two or three other parks.
