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| Clyde Beatty at his Fort Lauderdale Jungle Zoo, circa 1945 Florida State Archives/Florida Memory |
By Jane Feehan
The site of present-day Gateway Shopping Center, where Sunrise Blvd. and U.S. 1 merge, was once a rock pit and breeding spot for lions. The McKillop-Hutton company launched operations here in 1936 to raise big cats and other animals for circuses and the zoo trade.
Celebrated animal trainer, circus owner, and one time big-game hunter Clyde Beatty (1903-1965), purchased the pit and its lions from McKillop-Hutton in 1939. Clyde Beatty’s Jungle Zoo opened on the site; it proved to be a popular South Florida attraction. Beatty, who started out in the circus business cleaning cages and holding pens, often hosted local school kids eager to see big cats and other animals. A children's zoo, an addition to the original footprint, featured baby animals born and raised at his zoo.
The roaring of lions, and monkeys escaping into homes of the adjacent Victoria Park neighborhood eventually forced reluctant city officials to use zoning ordinances to close operations in 1945.
In a Fort Lauderdale City Commission meeting held in February 1945, it was determined the zoo, "an eye sore" violated sanitary requirements. Another ordinance was written prohibiting the raising or housing of wild animals within city limits. Sixty Victoria Park residents on hand for the meeting, loudly cheered approval of the ordinanaces that were to close that chapter of Fort Lauderdale history. Beatty, who wrote The Big Cage, which was also a film released in 1933, was not at the meeting to defend himself and his $125,000 investment.
The Gateway Shopping Center was developed over the old rock pit in 1950. (See index for Gateway)
Copyright ©2010, 2020 Jane Feehan. All rights reserved.
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| Clyde Beatty at his Fort Lauderdale Jungle Zoo, circa 1945 Florida State Archives/Florida Memory |
Sources:
Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Nov. 24, 1941
Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Feb. 26, 1945
Weidling and Burghard. Checkered Sunshine. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1966
Internet Movie Database - www.imdb.org
Circus History – www.circushistory.org
Tags: Lions, Clyde Beatty, Fort Lauderdale in the 1940s, Gateway Shopping Center, Fort Lauderdale history
