Wednesday, April 2, 2008

A Blast From the Past


On Monday, the girls and I drove the two hours that it takes to get to Toledo to visit the Toledo Zoo. We go there because our zoo pass gets us in free and it is just a lovely zoo. We see a lot of the animals that the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo doesn't have in their exhibits. My favorite part, and don't laugh, are the buildings. The Toledo Zoo has a lot of indoor exhibits. In fact, when you go there on March 31st a lot of the animals are inside these buildings. It's pretty great though because you can see a lot more of them inside than when they are on display outdoors. Not so great for the animals I am sure but great for viewing. Some of the exhibits are always inside, for instance, the zoo has a wonderful reptilian exhibit and aquarium. These are my favorite buildings, for they were built out of brick and mortar. They are exceptional in their workmanship. A real architectural wonder right there at the zoo! Why?


Most of the zoos buildings were built during the Great Depression! During "the Works" era Roosevelt decided to put men back to work, the federal government created jobs for them. The Toledo Zoo was one such project. On site you can view several buildings that were built for this project, and they are stunning. I always think though, what did those men think as they were building these buildings. Were they just thankful to have jobs? Were they thinking, "who will be able to afford coming to the zoo at this time?" I just wonder what were they thinking?

As I tool around the zoo with my girls I always stop to read the signs. They are there to commemorate a time when people had great need. I wonder, do people stop to read them? Do they stop to think about the men, and their families, and their struggle? Sometimes, in the present, we think that we have struggles with the economy, and gas prices, etc. I am glad that this one bit of history, this architecture is there to help me be thankful for what I do have. Be thankful for what this country has become, and trust that it is still made up of men and women that can work through great struggles.

5 comments:

Cathy said...

Quite pensive!!! I'm glad I stopped by and took a moment to breathe in and read your words!

Katie Dicesare said...

Hope you are enjoying your break...the zoo is always a favorite at our house too.

Kathy Douglas said...

What a great message. We DO get too caught up in how bad we have it when really we are so very lucky to be living at this time in history. Thanks for reminding us!

AngelaTIC said...

I had similar thoughts when we visited Mammoth Cave a few summers ago. When you go on the cave tours there are amazing mazes of walkways and stairways that wind throughout the caves. I spent most of the time in awe of the workmanship that went into putting those structures together. I was even more awed when I found out that they were built by WPA workers.

Christi.Overman said...

Sarah--tag! Check out my blog for the rules.