On May 30, 1906, Zoo Park was opened. Zoo Park was located in Ivywild. Every year until 1916, the park opened in early May and closed in late fall. It is said many of the rides and attractions at Bathhouse John Coughlin’s Zoo Park came from the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. The amusement park and zoo was unlike anything in Southern Colorado and was wildly popular, receiving as many as 5,000 visitors per weekend. Coughlin was a big booster for Colorado Springs; in the June 10, 1904 edition of the New Castle Nonpareil, an article states Coughlin “feels under deep obligation to the climate of Colorado Springs, which has restored his wife to health…”

Photo courtesy of Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum