"The oldest zoo in Indiana" — and the zoo's own correction of it

Claimed for the Potawatomi Zoo · Conceded, in part, by the zoo itself, January 2026

The claim. The Potawatomi Zoo is billed as the oldest zoo in Indiana. It is a claim with an unusual feature: the claimant has publicly qualified it. Asked directly, in January 2026, the zoo answered on its own page that it is "technically the second oldest… because an earlier South Bend zoo existed and later closed" — the surviving zoo dating its own founding to 1921, and conceding an earlier foundation, in its own city, that did not survive.

The record. The Zoo file documents both foundings. The city's first zoo was a duck pond in Leeper Park in 1902, closed in 1912 on the zoo's earlier timeline or 1914 on Riddle's account — the conflict is printed in the Zoo file and not settled here. The Potawatomi Zoo was founded in Potawatomi Park in 1921 on the park board's own minutes, opened by Albert Russell Erskine's gift of a single deer, and has operated continuously since — accredited first in 1987, renewed by the AZA Accreditation Commission on 17 September 2025. A rival claimant exists: Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, opened 1928, publishes its own billing as Indiana's first zoo, which the 1921 Potawatomi founding predates on the documents either way.

What the record leaves. The claim is partly supported, and its surviving form is the qualified one: the Potawatomi Zoo is Indiana's oldest continuously operating zoo, founded 1921 and never closed since. As a claim of first foundation it fails on the zoo's own concession — South Bend kept an earlier zoo, from 1902, that closed, and the present zoo's honesty about that is part of this record. Against Evansville's rival billing, the documents favor South Bend: 1921 precedes 1928 on both institutions' own accounts.

Sources

1. The Zoo file in this record — the Leeper Park duck pond of 1902 and its closing (1912 on the zoo's earlier timeline, 1914 on Riddle's); the Potawatomi founding of 1921 on the Board of Park Commissioners' minutes; accreditation 1987 and renewal 17 September 2025.
2. Potawatomi Zoo, public answer of January 2026 — "technically the second oldest… because an earlier South Bend zoo existed and later closed."
3. Mesker Park Zoo, Evansville — its published "Indiana's first zoo" billing; opened 1928.