Monkey ship at the zoo at Mesker Park, a.k.a. Oak Summit Park, on west side of Mesker Park Dr. south of Wimberg Ave. It was laid out as a pleasure park in 1899 with many rides and concessions--it was the property of a street car company but open to public free. George Mesker, owner of Mesker Iron Co., donated the original 40 acres (across the street from Oak Summit Park) in 1900. In 1915 he donated $25k to acquire more land and improve the area. Around 1917 the two parks merged. The zoo was built on east side of Mesker Park Dr., opening in 1928 --one of first with a moat system. "Opened the summer of 1933, the Monkey Ship was a popular attraction at Mesker Park Zoo for many decades. A 1/3 scale, concrete replica of Christopher Columbus�s flagship the Santa Maria, the ship was christened by Georgia, one of the zoo�s chimpanzees, after a bottle of orange juice was broken over the bow. It was designed to house monkeys and opened with 18 rhesus monkeys that called the ship home from the months April to November. In later years, capuchins and lemurs were added and young alligators once swam in the moat surrounding the ship. The animals were removed from the display in 1991 and housed in enclosures that more closely resembled their natural habitats. On September 29, 1935, the Evansville Press reported that a female rhesus monkey named Sookie lead a �mutiny on the Santa Maria.� After she began leaping from the ship to the wall of the pond enclosure, a distance of about 15 feet, other monkeys began to mimic Sookie despite the fact she was the only one strong enough to make the jump. She was able to escape the ship and spent a reported 3 hours �vacationing� in a grove of nearby trees. (https://www.courierpress.com/story/life/2017/11/13/history-lesson-mesker-park-zoos-monkey-ship/857878001/) This is postcard 5A-H2444.