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Property Location
Property Features
In addition to the house, the zoo portion of the property includes a c.1920 brick hip-roof garage, with restrooms on the upper level and a one-car garage on the lower level; a c.1935 stone primate building; a c.1935 stone building that houses owls and goats; a c.1970 frame shed that houses llama; a c.1970 frame concessions stand; a c.2020 frame otter house; an c.2000 timber wolf shelter, and other smaller animal shelters and enclosures. The park portion includes a c.1935 frame and stone picnic shelter and two c.1935 picnic shelters, and a modern playground area. Two sections of a low c.1935 stone wall with square posts and concrete coping delineate the north and east boundaries of the property. Both are set back from the sidewalk; one stretches along the northern edge of the property to the corner of 8th Avenue and Park Street, and the other is along Park Street between 8th Avenue and Zoo Lane. A c.1930 highway marker was moved to the property and is currently located at the corner of 8th Avenue and Park Street between the two sections of stone fence. It was originally located at the junction of Highway 12 and 33 in downtown Baraboo, at the corner of 4th and Oak Streets.
The subject house was designed by noted Wisconsin architect Alfred Clas for Henry Ochsner and his wife in 1883. Both had passed by 1891, and in 1911 son Albert Ochsner donated the house and several acres of land the city of Baraboo. A physician, Dr. Ochsner intended the site be used as a hospital; he stipulated that the citizens and/or city government would raise $50,000 for its construction in exchange for the gift. Fundraising efforts did not reach this goal, and the offer was withdrawn. The site became a city park when Dr. Ochsner donated his 2.5 acres to the city, and the city purchased another 9.5 acres from the family in 1919. In 1926 a zoo was established on the property, with two bear cubs caught near Wisconsin Dells and two deer donated by the Wisconsin Conservation Department. As the zoo grew, new stone and frame shelters and enclosures were constructed to accommodate animals between the 1920s and 1970s.
National And State Register Of Historic Places Listings
Architecture & History Inventory
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PENINSULA STATE PARK (HIGHWAY 42)
57158
Located in Gibraltar, Door County
