In 1937, “Miss Ypsi” the monkey, ponies, bears, foxes, a parrot, a collection of snakes, and other animals lived in an improvised zoo in Tourist Park (now Waterworks Park). The animals came from western Michigan, Iowa, Florida, Canada, and South America. Several were purchased with money raised by Ypsilanti schoolchildren.“Two baboons will soon be installed in their quarters at the Tourist Park,” said the April 21, 1937 Ypsilanti Daily Press. “Free will collections are to be taken among the school children. . . to furnish money to buy the animals.”
“Within a week’s time,” the paper continued, “it is expected that the $75 will be raised by the children. That about covers the cost of both baboons.”
The baboon cages stood in Tourist Park, a public campground just off Catherine Street in today’s Waterworks Park. Families came from as far away as Virginia to park their trailers or pitch their tents in the park while they attended summer classes at the Normal School (EMU). It was an economical mode of life in a difficult time.
The park entrance featured the bronze statue of a woman. Once the top half of Ypsilanti’s 12 and ½ foot high Starkweather Fountain, which stood outside the present-day City Hall, the statue had been detached from the fountain in 1932. The graceful Hebe, goddess of Youth, gazed benevolently over the children running to the nearby zoo to see its latest additions.
“The plot thickens at the Ypsilanti Tourist Park zoo with the arrival of a second crow, donated by a Saline resident who read in the Daily Press that the camp’s original bird had been sadly gored by a menagerie mate, the billy goat,” noted the Ypsilanti Daily Press in an undated story.
Warming to his subject, the reporter continued, “Crows. . . have individual personalities—there’s determination and a buoyant zest for life in the way Old Black Joe cocks his head; there’s grim disillusionment and cynical aloofness in the jaded eye of Oscar. Joe is much given to chasing bantam chickens in the park, and Oscar, who no longer sees the world through the rosy haze of innocence, bides his time until Joe will receive his inevitable punishment for his carefree disregard of the chickens’ cherished rights to the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. One day, gloats Oscar, Joe will learn that the little feathered beasties, for all of their empty-headedness, have a mind of their own.”
The bird collection included two parakeets, “Their shimmery blue and turquoise coats laced with black and white grace the menagerie with an air of aristocratic elegance,” said the Press. “Their manners are impeccable, a lesson to the monkey if she were only quick to catch on to things of that sort. The parakeets, from South America, also lend a romantic note to the otherwise hard-headed, practical zoo inhabitants. They sit close together, spooning all day long and far, far into the night, oblivious to everyone else in the world.”
The parakeets lived with Mac the parrot and several smaller birds in an improvised bird house. “One of the cleverest arrangements which Mrs. Flagg and her brother Mr. Welsh have contrived is the new bird house,” said the June 30 Press. “It was formerly seen on Ypsilanti streets as a popcorn booth, but it is singularly well adapted for its present purpose. In a very neat and workmanlike manner, the open spaces on three sides have been fitted with solid blinds, which drop down and the fourth side has been outfitted with heavy canvas curtains which when unrolled make excellent protection against wind and cold.”
Two animals arrived from Canada. “Two brown bears, gift of Ypsilanti school children, are in Ypsilanti Tourist Park today,” said the May 22 Press. “They are both a deep brown, weigh about ten pounds apiece, and are two months old.”
A month later, the paper gave an update. “A surprising attachment has sprung up between the little bears and the little white dog; the dog is allowed in the cage to play with the bears at intervals. . . In the evening the bears are taken out on chains which run along a wire, and the place where they chase each other and tramp back and forth is worn bare.”
Foxes from Iowa joined the zoo. “Two red foxes two months old. . . scamper about their cage and already seem a little less wild than on their arrival,” said the May 22 Press. “They are pretty little things with light brown eyes looking directly at visitors and with neat black legs that are carrying them forward and back in the cage playing at present with a tin can.”
The collection included a king snake, several garter snakes, and blue racers sharing quarters with a big frog. “How to help the snakes shed their skin was somewhat of a problem until Mr. Welsh lined the floors of their cages with small gravel,” said the June 30 Press. “Several have shed their skins this week. A corn or red rat snake, coming from Florida, is very handsome since shedding his old skin Monday and is a distinct red in parts.”
At the end of June, two ponies appeared. “Both are jet black,” said the June 30 Press. “Joe is distinguished from Lucky in having one white spot. They have bridles and saddles and look lively even when standing at rest occasionally under the trees with children clustered about them.”
Though the zoo’s animal housing and care were not up to modern standards, the little home-made zoo brought fun and diversion to Ypsilanti children and families in a difficult time. It was one symbol of the resourcefulness and grit of Ypsi residents, who, though pressured by poverty and want, created something beautiful.
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