Audobon Nature Institute

Picture Audubon Nature Institute as a single family tree with many far-reaching branches. From seeds sown more than a century ago, it has grown into an unrivaled family of facilities that Celebrates the Wonders of Nature. The tree is nurtured by a unique culture which owes its beginning—and its ongoing development—to dynamic vision and leadership, enduring entrepreneurial spirit, intense commitment to innovation and passionate community support. This culture has been a catalyst for success that sets Audubon Nature Institute apart.

horizontal line

Rooted in Innovation

The Audubon family began in Audubon Park—once home to Native Americans, and later, to New Orleans' first mayor, Etienne de Boré. He founded the nation's first commercial sugar plantation here and developed its first granulated sugar through a process invented by Norbert Rillieux, a local free man of color. During the Civil War, the location alternately hosted a Confederate camp and a Union hospital. In 1866, it was the activation site for the 9th Calvary, the "Buffalo Soldiers" whose defense of our country's western frontier made an indelible mark on America's African-American heritage.
Site improvements made for The World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition of 1884 (Louisiana's first world's fair) laid the foundation for an urban park. The city had purchased the land for this purpose in 1871, and by the turn of the century, had entrusted its development to landscape architect John Charles Olmsted. Olmsted's family firm had risen to prominence for its design of New York's Central Park, and New Orleanians soon watched their own scenic retreat materialize from Louisiana swamplands.

In 1886, city planners changed the park's name from Upper City Park to Audubon Park. This was in tribute to artist/naturalist John James Audubon who painted many of his famed "Birds of America" in Louisiana.

The Audubon Commission was established by State Act in 1914 to maintain and develop Audubon Park. A flight cage was added to the park in 1916, and its popularity launched the community's call for a full-scale zoo. Community leaders united as the New Orleans Zoological Society, and (in a tradition carried on today) private donations soon funded a monkey cage, a mammal cage and a deer paddock. The first elephant, purchased by Louisiana schoolchildren, arrived in 1924. An aquarium and a colonnaded sea lion pool fueled the momentum, and by 1929, the collection boasted hundreds of animals.

When the Depression of the 1930s shut down private donations, the city's hope for a zoo was kept alive by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). This federal agency funded construction of new zoo buildings, and in 1938, a $50,000 bequest from local benefactor Valentine Merz enabled the opening of the Merz Memorial Zoo.