One of my most recent eBay acquisitions is a brochure printed by the New York Central in 1904, advertising the Bronx Park – or what we’d know today as the Bronx Zoo, and the New York Botanical Garden. Visiting both was, and still is, easy via the Harlem Line. Although I loved the cover of the brochure, it was also interesting to read about these parks and what they were like over a hundred years ago. Anyways, this was too good to not share… enjoy!

Random little factoids I found interesting:

• Round trip tickets from Grand Central to Fordham was 25 cents for adults, and 15 cents for children.
• Entrance to the Botanical Garden and Bronx Zoo was free, except for Mondays and Thursdays, where the zoo charged 25 cents admission.
• You could rent a wheelchair – and someone to push you around in it – for 50 cents.
• Cameras were not permitted at the zoo.
• The lion house at the zoo was at that time the most expensive building, at a cost of $150,000.
• If this brochure had been printed two years later, in 1906, it is possible that you might have seen a photo of Ota Benga – the Congolese pygmy that was on display in the monkey house for a short period of time. (this one boggles my mind)