Early History of the Zoological Society
Special thanks to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for contributing many of the unknown photographer images.
The original A-frame Monkey Island building was started in the late 1950s. Monkey Island had been extremely popular at the Washington Park Zoo and was one of the first exhibits completed for the Milwaukee County Zoo. A completely new A-shaped building replaced this one when the island, now called Macaque Island, was redone in 2002. But the remodeled exhibit still features the old bell that was in the previous exhibit; the bell came from Milwaukee’s last steam freight locomotive. And under the bell is buried Old Joe, a cantankerous, bell-ringing rhesus monkey who ruled Monkey Island in Washington Park for decades.Photographer unknown
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