05/26/2026
Did you know that there used to be a zoo near Minnehaha Falls?
The Longfellow Zoological Gardens was the brainchild of eccentric entrepreneur Robert “Fish” Jones (pictured below in the top hat). He first came to Minneapolis from New York City in 1876 and soon established the fish and oyster market at Third St. and Hennepin that gave him his nickname. A natural showman, Jones eventually purchased a bear that he chained up near his market to amuse (and sometimes frighten) customers. To this he added a camel and a pair of tigers, which he kept as an attraction on the third floor of his market.
When city authorities shut down this indoor menagerie, Jones purchased three acres on what was then the outskirts of downtown (on the site where the Basilica of St. Mary now sits) for an open-air zoo. By 1903, his attraction featured a family of six South African lions, jaguars, leopards, cougars, a camel, cattle “from the Holy Land,” giant tortoises, exotic birds, and a pair of pure white Russian wolves whom he would walk through downtown on a leash to drum up business.
However, noise complaints led Jones to eventually abandon this spot as well. In 1907, he opened the Longfellow Zoological Gardens near Minnehaha Falls, named for the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (whose poem ‘The Song of Hiawatha’ had made the Minnehaha Falls an internationally famous tourist draw). Nearby, Jones built a residence for himself that was a 2/3 scale replica of the famous poet’s Boston home. Jones lived here until he died in 1930. His relatives were unable to continue operating the zoo as a profitable business, and it closed in 1936. Most of the animals were sold to the Como Zoo in St. Paul (although, according to local legend, a pair of seals escaped and were never seen again.)
The story of Longfellow Zoo is just one colorful episode in the wild and surprising history of the Minnehaha Falls area, alongside dance halls, secret saloons, wild behavior, lawsuits, crooks, and copious whiskey. We invite you to join us this Saturday, May 30th, at 1 pm for a 'A Raucous Ramble Around Minnehaha Falls,' a one-mile walk where the mayhem occurred. Tours depart from “Fish” Jones’ miniaturized replica of the Longfellow House (today owned by Minneapolis Parks & Recreation Board).
Karen Cooper, whose work ‘When Minnehaha Flowed with Whiskey: A Spirited History of the Falls’ won the 2023 Minnesota Book Award for Nonfiction, gives participants further background on the people and places that shape this remarkable story. Through colorful anecdotes and thorough documentation, she helps us picture the Minnehaha Falls area in a new light, and helps us understand how this history formed the park we know and love today.
You can buy tickets for this tour as well as our other upcoming summer walking tours here: https://hennepinhistory.org/events/
