Published October 6, 2025 | Updated June 18, 2026

Considered by many to be the best in the world, Omaha’s zoo completed its transition from Riverview Park to world-class Henry Doorly Zoo following a donation from the wife of its namesake.

Henry Doorly was born in Barbados in 1879. His grandfather was a major in the British Army who had settled in the West Indies, his father worked as a music teacher, and his mother, Isabella Carrington, came from a family that had lived there for generations. After attending Harrison College and studying as a surveyor, he immigrated to the United States at 20 with dim prospects at home.

He headed to Deadwood, South Dakota to work on a ranch but changed his mind and found work as a surveyor in Wyoming for Union Pacific. Having never seen snow, he survived his first winter living in a converted boxcar with a few Americans. From Wyoming he moved to Oklahoma for similar work before landing in Omaha as a draftsman for U.P., followed by a stint with the Army Corps of Engineers. It was around this time that he helped organize the short-lived cricket club, the predecessor to the Field Club of Omaha.

Soon afterwards he met Margaret Hitchcock, daughter of United States Senator Gilbert Hitchcock, who also happened to be the founder and publisher of the Omaha World-Herald. The two married in 1904 and started a family while Henry worked as a police reporter for the newspaper. From there he took over management of the want ads for the struggling paper. He even wrote a step-by-step guide called The Omaha World-Herald Want Ad Way: For the Success of the Classified Advertising Department, which served as the industry standard. Within two years he was put in charge of advertising, and by 1910 he was the newspaper’s business manager.

He became publisher and president of the World Publishing Company in 1934 following his father-in-law’s death. He also proved to be quite successful in that role. He once explained his view working in the newspaper business: “We figure we are here to look after the public’s interest. Those things are the job of a newspaper, especially when you publish the only newspaper in a city the size of Omaha. I look upon myself as a trustee of the public interest.”

Henry Doorly established the newspaper’s role in civic improvement, which included fundraising campaigns to establish Children’s Hospital and Memorial Park. It made sense that his wife of 57 years would work to honor his legacy and his commitment to the public with a donation that established the Henry Doorly Zoo. It combined her love of animals, having spent a considerable amount of time in her youth on the Crounse Farm in Fort Calhoun, owned by her grandfather, Lorenzo Crounse, who served as Nebraska’s Governor.

Following Henry’s death in 1961, she made the $750,000 donation with the stipulation that they name it after her husband. The intent was clear: the donation would transform Riverview Park into a fine zoo in its own right by enlarging, expanding, and beautifying it. She did not want the animals to be confined to cages but instead to have as much freedom as possible. Establishing a zoo in this manner required more space. The Omaha Zoological Society, which had formed in 1952, reorganized in 1965, one year after her death, as a nonprofit to plan, construct, and maintain the zoo. That included trips to peer zoos to learn and implement best practices. Its funding at that point came primarily from zoo admission and donations.

The zoo was constructed over three separate five-year stages. The buildings were designed by architecture firm Leo A. Daly. The first phase provided habitat for bears, gorillas, and orangutans. Henry’s former employer, Union Pacific, installed 2½ miles of track throughout the zoo while Eppley Pachyderm Hill was opened on the site of the old baseball field. As the old park made way for the new zoo, residents in the area were left without a park of their own, which eventually culminated in the creation of George F. Lynch Park on 20th and Center.

Dr. Lee Simmons, who started at the zoo as a veterinarian in 1966, had become its director just four years later. He proved to be transformational. He personally discovered the old swimming pool from 1916 that had been buried in 1944 and made the decision to use it for the Owen Sea Lion Pavilion in 1970. He oversaw the expansion of its cat complex in 1977, which brought some notoriety as the largest in North America. Under his leadership the zoo opened the world’s second-largest walk-through aviary as well as a 70,000-gallon aquarium in an area that used to be a museum. Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Pavilion opened in 1987. Perhaps not coincidentally given Margaret’s love of nature, the Wild Kingdom television program had made its debut in 1963, the same year she made that transformational donation. The program studied wild animals in their natural habitats while emphasizing conservation. With conservation being a key part of the zoo’s mission, a partnership between the two was fitting.

Dr. Simmons continued to lead the zoo into the 1990s, which included the Lied Jungle. Its opening as the world’s largest indoor rain forest proved to be his signature achievement and put the Henry Doorly Zoo on the map nationally. It was followed by the opening of a new aquarium named after Suzanne and Walter Scott. The 2000s included the addition of two more attractions considered to be the largest in the world: the Desert Dome and Kingdoms of the Night, consisting of an indoor desert and a swamp. Hubbard Gorilla Valley opened in 2004. The new habitat, which allowed the gorillas to roam freely, was consistent with Margaret’s desire for animals not to be caged. Dr. Simmons capped off his long career with the opening of Skyfari, which allowed for a bird’s-eye view as well as a respite for weary visitors who found the larger zoo increasingly difficult to traverse due to its steep terrain.

By the time its next director, Dennis Pate, took over in 2009, the zoo had grown from an average Midwestern zoo to one that was recognized across the world. Pate had an extensive zoo career under his belt, having worked at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo followed by those in Portland, Oregon and Jacksonville, Florida. He created and completed a 10-year plan that included additional improvements that maintained its place as the state’s most visited attraction while breaking attendance records and being named the World’s Best Zoo. His accomplishments include Expedition Madagascar, Stingray Beach, African Grasslands, Bay Family Adventure Trails, Asian Highlands, Glacier Bay Landing, Owen Sea Lion Shores, and Hubbard Orangutan Forest. He also acquired the land on which Rosenblatt Stadium had sat for decades. He used it to provide sorely needed parking which, to this day, comes at a premium at peak times, leading visitors to park in the surrounding neighborhood. He also carved out space in the new parking lot to honor the “Diamond on the Hill” by creating Infield at the Zoo, an exhibit that includes a miniature ball field, old bleachers and foul poles from Rosenblatt, and home plate located in the exact same location.

Starting in 2022, the zoo has been led by Dr. Luis Padilla, whose previous experience was at the St. Louis Zoo. While each of its directors has made their mark, it is Dr. Simmons who is most responsible for its evolution. Today it is the state’s most visited tourist attraction and generates more than $200M annually to both the city and the state. It continues to lead in its conservation and research efforts combined with recreation and education. Each is represented by the squares in its logo.

Neither Henry nor Margaret would recognize the zoo today save for its location on the hilly terrain whose sweeping views of the Missouri River earned its predecessor the name: Riverview Park. More than six decades later the zoo that sought to become the equal of its peers has surpassed them all. Since then, the name Henry Doorly has become recognized all over the world.

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Sources

• Omaha World-Herald archives
• Henry Doorly (1879-1961) – Find a Grave Memorial
• Margaret Hitchcock Doorly (1884-1964) – Find a Grave Memorial
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omaha%27s_Henry_Doorly_Zoo_and_Aquarium
• https://www.omahazoo.com/about-us
• https://www.omahamagazine.com/b2b/the-new-and-improved-henry-doorly-zoo/
• https://www.omahamagazine.com/lifestyle/doc-simmons/