Lincoln Park Zoo
zoo located in Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois
Lincoln Park Zoo, also known as Lincoln Park Zoological Gardens, is a 35-acre (14 ha) zoo in Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois. The zoo was founded in 1868 and is one of the oldest zoos in the United States. It is also one of a small number of zoos to offer free admission. The zoo is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). In 2019, it also became an accredited arboretum.
Lincoln Park Zoo is home to a wide variety of animals. The zoo's exhibits include big cats, bears, penguins, apes, reptiles, monkeys, and other species totaling about 1,100 animals from some 200 species.
The Lincoln Park Zoo was long home to a burr oak tree which was estimated to more than 250 years old. The tree was cut down on May 2, 2023, due to poor health. Thirty-six scions of the tree were grafted onto root stock and are growing at the Morton Arboretum.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Lincoln Park Zoo” as zoo located in Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as zoo located in Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3241309. VIAF identifies the subject as 155923285. The Library of Congress control number is n79022324. Authority coordinates are 41.921, -87.634. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1868, 2019 and 2023.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “Lincoln Park Zoo” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.