Colossus–weighing over 500 lbs, standing more than six feet tall, and with feet that measured eight inches wide–was probably the largest gorilla ever held in captivity. If you remember going to Benson’s between the 1960s and 1987, you probably remember Colossus, the huge silverback gorilla who lived in the smallish cage in the middle of the park.Įven today, you can still walk over to Colossus’ cage, restored to its 20th-century glory. There, it ‘lived’ for another 28 years before it just fell apart in 2015.īut, even more popular than the concrete elephant at Benson’s, there was … A Gorilla who Thought He Was a Man After the park closed in 1987, alumni bought it for Tufts University in Medford, Mass., whose mascot happened to be an elephant. That’s me on Benson’s Lucky Elephant at 4.īenson’s lucky concrete elephant survived even longer than the park. She’s said to be buried somewhere on the park’s grounds.Ĭhildren of the Gen X years may better remember the concrete elephant, a 10-foot-tall concrete statue of an Indian elephant who started life with a downward-pointing trunk before the park’s final owner traded it out for an upward-pointing trunk sometime around 1979, for ‘better luck’ as the legend goes. Betsy survived John Benson by 28 years, dying in 1971. Betsy was best remembered for her baths in the park’s pond and for giving rides to park visitors in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. Early in Benson’s history, John Benson’s real-life pet elephant Betsy emerged as one of the park’s earliest stars. Visitors to Benson’s frequently saw elephants–both the concrete and flesh-and-blood types–at the park. While evidence of wishes granted seems to have not survived over the decades, park workers emptied the coins regularly through a trapdoor in the elephant’s belly. If you slipped a coin into a slot on the elephant’s back–the legend went–your wish would be granted. The elephant soon got its own legend in Benson’s lore. In 1941, Benson added a “lucky Chinese elephant” to his wild animal farm. He brought in tigers, zebra, fleas for a real-life flea circus, and … A Lucky Concrete Elephant He charged admission, except to Hudson residents who could come in for free.īenson soon discovered that he make more money running a sort of zoo. The business grew.Ī few years later, he opened Benson’s Wild Animal Farm to the public. He brought in wild animals and conditioned them for zoos and circuses. He helped start the Franklin Park Zoo in Dorchester, Massachusetts as its first curator.īy the early 1920s, he had bought a 200-acre farm in Hudson, NH with a nearby Boston & Maine railroad station. ![]() He helped establish zoos in faraway places like Jamaica and Cuba. He stayed and found work buying and selling exotic animals. Twenty years later, around 1890, Benson came to the US for the first time, with an exhibit that featured a wrestling lion. That set the course for the rest of his life. In the circus, he became an animal trainer, like his father. Benson ran away from his home in Dewsbury in the English country of Yorkshire. When he was just eight years old in the late 1870s, John T.
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