St. Louis Zoo - Eleanor

The story starts in 1955, with eight elephants imported by Louis Goebel and purchased by Anheuser Busch for the St. Louis Zoo. The new animals were to be trained by Floyd Smith and presented to the public in daily shows, a testament to the Polack act trained by Mac MacDonald. Within five years, three of the group were sold. The first, Eleanor, was sold to the Weed Park Zoo in Muscatine, Iowa, in September 1959.

OpLink - History review (original record card / ks)
0/8 purchased from Louis Goebel Wild Animal Farm ($3,500 ea. price plus insurance, $28,000 total) with funds donated by Anheuser-Busch Charitable Trust. 0/4 arrived at Goebel in May 1954 and another 0/4 in October 1954, where they remained for training by Zoo elephant trainer, Floyd Smith, until being trucked to the Zoo by Anheuser-Busch.

Postcard 4, St Louis Zoo
Postcard Courtesy of S Hoss

Washington Park Children's Zoo - Indianapolis

Indianapolis' first zoo opened in 1964 and exhibited animals until its closure and subsequent transfer to a new site in 1988. This facility first exhibited Asian elephants, before switching to African elephants. Generally speaking, only a single elephant was exhibited with a few instances of two for short time periods.

"Tumthong, a baby Asiatic elephant born in Laos and shipped here by air, was bought for the Zoo with the pennies, nickels and dimes contributed by thousands of school children."
Courtesy of Circus No-Spin Zone