Honolulu Zoo
Over 750,000 people visit the Honolulu Zoo annually. It is the largest zoo within a radius of 2,300 miles and unique in that it is the only zoo in the United States originating from a King's grant of royal lands to the people. King David Kalakaua, Monarch of Hawai`i from 1874 to 1891, made lands of the Leahi Land Holdings available in 1876 to the people for a thirty year lease. That year, a "Kapiolani Park Association" of two hundred subscriber members assumed the administration of the three hundred-acre park. The marshy parcel was a muddle of fishponds, lagoons and islands where King Kalakaua maintained his collection of exotic birds. In 1877 the area was named after the King's wife and opened as Queen Kapiolani Park.