Jumbo

Photo by Alan L Brown - Posted August, 2004

Photo by contributor Wayne Adam - Posted September, 2011

Photo by contributor Bett - September, 2007

Plaque Location

The County of Elgin
The City of St. Thomas
On the west side of Woodworth Avenue
just north of the railway tracks

Coordinates: N 42 47.060 W 81 10.723

Plaque Text

Near this site on September 15, 1885, one of the best known and most beloved animals met an untimely death when he was struck by a railway locomotive. Jumbo, the 5900 kg African elephant, had been brought to North America in 1882 from the London Zoo where for seventeen years thousands had been fascinated by the mammoth creature. His purchase for £2,000 by the American, P.T. Barnum, raised a nation-wide outcry in Britain and daily reports of his trip across the Atlantic were carried in the British press. From 1882 to 1885 the majestic animal, reputedly born in 1861 and nearly 3 m tall, was one of the foremost attractions of the Barnum and Bailey Circus.

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Posted September 29, 2010
The statue of Jumbo, above, is at a different location from the plaque. The statue is on Fingal Road, just west of King Street, St. Thomas, at N 42 46.732 W 81 12.493. As of June, 2010, the statue was undergoing restoration. -Wayne

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