Phillips Park Zoo

About Phillips Park Zoo

Phillips Park Zoo is a municipal zoo inside Phillips Park in Aurora, Illinois, at 1000 Ray Moses Drive. The City of Aurora operates it, and the zoo's website lists admission as free. Wikipedia gives 1915 as the year it was established and says it has stayed open year-round without an admission charge. It is not accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

The zoo sits within a park that Wikipedia describes as covering more than 325 acres and managed by Aurora's Department of Parks and Recreation. Other features of the park include a golf course, an aquatic center and Sunken Gardens. The zoo's own site describes a Visitor Center with a Mastodon Gallery, Mastodon Island, the Sunken Garden, a Reptile House and tram tours as parts of a visit.

According to the zoo's history page, the collection has focused on native animals since the 1930s. The zoo's animal pages name bald eagles, gray wolves, elk, highland cattle, great horned owls, American beavers and alpacas, among others, along with a Reptile House collection.

History

The park itself predates the zoo. According to Wikipedia, Travis Phillips, an Aurora merchant who had served as alderman and mayor, left money in his will to buy land for a park; the deed for 60 acres was signed on November 21, 1899, and the city council officially named it Phillips Park in 1902. The zoo's history page gives 1915 as the year the zoo was established. A birdhouse with a glass roof was built in 1916. By 1920 the collection included five black bears, ten monkeys, six elk, three buffalo, two foxes, a wolf and a deer, according to the zoo's history page. In 1926 Bob Lisle built the stone wall leading to the zoo, and the history page records that a hailstorm wrecked the birdhouse in 1933.

The zoo's history page says that once Brookfield Zoo opened in 1934, Phillips Park Zoo chose to focus on native animals rather than the giraffes and other large exotic animals it had shown before; Wikipedia also names monkeys among the earlier exotic animals. The history page records 1937 as the year mastodon bones and tusks were put on display, which made the zoo function as a museum. Wikipedia explains the origin of the fossils: beginning March 7, 1934, the Phillips Park Lake Excavation Project, sponsored by the Civil Works Administration, uncovered American mastodon remains, including three skulls and three tusks, along with giant beaver and trumpeter swan bones. The lake is still called Mastodon Lake. The Visitor Center, built in 2003 according to Wikipedia, now houses the fossils.

Mid-century additions were a barn in 1950 and a cypress water wheel in 1964. The history page says an elk pen, a small barn and an outdoor bird cage were built in 1983 and 1984. A new birdhouse opened in 1985, the year Judy the bear and Farfel the macaw arrived. Twin African pygmy goats named Billy Paul and Billy Joe were added in 1986. In 1992 the Aurora Public Art Commission commissioned sculptor Steve Weitzman to design new entrance pillars, installed with a stone letter wall.

The history page names Chopper the caiman and otters Teeter and Totter as arrivals in 1996, and a water-slide otter exhibit was designed in 1999. In 2001 and 2002 the zoo opened a wolf habitat, an eagle exhibit and an elk viewing deck. A mountain lion exhibit opened in 2005 and the Reptile House renovation was completed in 2006. A new entrance arch was built in 2007.

Exhibits and habitats

The zoo's home page lists a set of named areas: the Visitor Center, the Sunken Garden, Mastodon Island and a tram tour. The zoo's visit page lists a separate phone line for the Stover Visitor Center and Mastodon Gallery, which Wikipedia says was built in 2003 to showcase the mastodon bones found in the park.

The Reptile House holds the zoo's cold-blooded collection. The zoo names African spurred tortoises, California desert tortoises, ball pythons, Burmese pythons, western hognose snakes, northern blue-tongued skinks, uromastyx, common snapping turtles, eastern box turtles, eastern painted turtles, musk turtles, spotted turtles, dart frogs, axolotls and spotted gar.

Outdoor habitats include wolves, elk and highland cattle, which the zoo lists as fan favorites. Bird species on the zoo's list are bald eagles, great horned owls, Indian peafowl, red-tailed hawks and turkeys. Mammals on the zoo's list include alpacas, American beavers, American elk, goats, gray wolves and highland cattle. The zoo's website announced the arrival of two baby wallabies, which it describes as the first marsupials at the zoo.

Conservation and programs

The zoo's site lists field trips and school visits, and a Kids Zone section with scavenger hunts, word scrambles and word searches. It also offers informational and activity forms for parents and teachers. A tram tour is listed among the zoo's attractions.

Planning your visit

As listed on the zoo's website, the zoo is open Thursday through Tuesday and closed on Wednesdays. From June 1 through September 30 the hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and from October 1 through May 31 they are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is listed as free.

The address is 1000 Ray Moses Drive, Aurora, Illinois 60505. The zoo's main phone number is 630-256-3860, and the Stover Visitor Center's number is 630-256-3740. The website offers translations into Spanish, Hindi, Punjabi and Simplified Chinese and carries an accessibility statement.