Elephant Enclosure at the Central Park Zoo, date unknown (post 1934).

The Central Park Zoo began as a small menagerie in 1860 when citizens and circuses started donating animals to the city. It was the first zoo in New York State and, when officially chartered in 1864, was the second publicly owned zoo in the United States (after the Philadelphia Zoo).

In 1934 the zoo entered a new era when Robert Moses, the city's master planner, built a new zoo. The grouping of new brick and limestone, neo-Georgian buildings were constructed around the new seal lion display. The featured animals included seals, lions, tigers, elephants, and gorillas. This photograph was taken after the new zoo was opened to the public.

The zoo was then closed in 1983 and underwent a multi-year, multi-million dollar renovation and expansion under the supervision of the Wildlife Conservation Society, reopening in 1988.