Monkey Island, San Antonio Zoo, San Antonio, TX, circa 1930

About this postcard

Monkeys clamber over a rocky, moated island at the San Antonio Zoo, with a pool and shade trees behind them. The printed caption bills the exhibit as "one of the many interesting spots visited by thousands of tourists annually," which fits a zoo that opened in 1914 on city land in Brackenridge Park and became a regular stop on San Antonio itineraries. Rockwork islands ringed by water were a common zoo design of the period, letting visitors watch primates in the open without bars between them. The card's publisher, the San Antonio Card Co., catered to that tourist trade with local views sold as souvenirs.