The San Diego Zoo started with a roar in Balboa Park

The San Diego Zoo feels like one of those places that must have always been part of the city, but its beginning was surprisingly local. After the 1915-1916 Panama-California Exposition, a small animal collection was left in Balboa Park. One of those animals was a lion named Rex, living near what is now Park Boulevard.

San Diego physician Harry Wegeforth and his brother Paul were passing Balboa Park when they heard Rex roar. That moment became the zoo’s favorite origin story. It was not a polished civic plan at first. It was a big sound, a leftover exposition menagerie, and a person who thought San Diego ought to have a zoo of its own.

That beginning is one reason the zoo belongs so clearly to Balboa Park. The park was already a place where San Diego showed itself to visitors through gardens, buildings, museums, and public space. The zoo added living wildlife to that mix, and it grew into one of the city’s best-known institutions.

Today, the Rex statue at the zoo entrance gives visitors a quick way into the story before they even buy a ticket. Look for the lion, then remember that one of San Diego’s most famous places began with something simple: a roar heard on a drive through the park.