Dr. Harry M. Wegeforth
Harry Milton Wegeforth was born in Baltimore, Maryland, January 7, 1882. In 1906 he graduated with a degree in medicine from the University of Maryland, following which he took post-graduate work at Johns Hopkins University and specialized in surgery.
Wegeforth arrived in San Diego in 1910 and practiced medicine for a while with his brothers. At one time he operated a small hospital in Coronado and had an office in the Granger Building in San Diego. In 1929 he built the San Diego Hospital, a small hospital especially equipped for bone surgery.
He will be best remembered for founding the San Diego Zoo in 1916 after worrying about the fate of animals on display for the Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park.
For one interlude in the life of Harry M. Wegeforth his passion animals cooled down a few degrees. Animals had first lured him to the circus, but the skills of the wire walkers intrigued him even more. At the age of eleven or so he volunteered as a backup performer. He tried out on the high wire the next year. After two more years of backyard practice he signed on and left Baltimore for a tour with the Barnum & Bailey Circus. An older brother got the assignment of tracking him down and bringing him back.
It's noteworthy he was even missed. Harry's father, Conrad Wegeforth, had six sons by his first two wives and five sons and two daughters by Harry's mother. Perhaps a family of this size is what qualified Harry to launch his own circus at the age of nine. He displayed stuffed bears, tigers and elephants. With Harry as ringmaster the neighborhood children probably could even hear them growling and trumpeting. Once two live ducks showed up for a performance. The cop patrolling the beat returned them to a nearby poultry shop; no arrests were reported.
When the weather permitted, young Harry caught crabs in the bay and returned home from the woods with snakes, frogs and an occasional turtle-all of which joined his backyard menagerie. Preoccupied with the pets, he barely squeaked by with his grades until midway in high school when he buckled down.
A touch of tuberculosis interrupted plans for college. His doctor advised a trip to the high country and lots of outdoor life. So for four years Harry punched cattle in Colorado until he recovered his health.
He taught anatomy and worked in a drug store, helping pay for his University of Maryland tuition. In 1908, his M.D. certificate packed in the suitcase, he headed for Seattle. Next he set up his practice in San Diego in an office at today's Fifth and Broadway and quickly attracted patients. His glowing letters also attracted his sister Emma and brothers Paul and Arthur, also MDs.
As he prospered, Dr. Wegeforth acquired a new Overland and he married Rachel Granger in 1913. The newlyweds headed East in the car for their honeymoon. Two tires blew out on a rocky back country road before they could even reach the county line. The doctor hired an Indian who hitched his mules to the car and towed it to Mesa Grande. The couple consoled themselves with having a new home to which they could return, but discovered it had flooded because of a broken water pipe. The doctor's reaction? He dropped the suitcases and dashed for the dozen or so Japanese fantail fish in the pond that had flooded.
In 1915 the Panama-California Exposition scored a smashing success but the doctor squirmed about the makeshift arrangements for a display of live animals. He's reported to have exclaimed to brother Paul, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had a zoo." He put a notice in the newspaper, asking for support. Two other doctors and the Stevens brothers offered help. The creation of the San Diego Zoological Society became the first step in forming a zoo many people today regard as the world's finest.
Neil Morgan, the doctor's collaborator on the book It Began with a Roar, said, "He defied politicians. He browbeat reluctant voters. He wooed wealthy donors... He powdered elephants white, tossed calomel into the mouths of angry lions, and stuffed pythons with sausage from meat grinders."
Through all this, Dr. Wegeforth avoided publicity, often sneaked off when scheduled to be on the speakers' platform. For the dedication of the Wegeforth Bowl, an amphitheater where visitors learn about the zoo's residents, some friends ordered a plaque inscribed with warm sentiments about the doctor. Discomfited by the whole affair, he said, "Well, it's nice. But you could have bought an animal with the money."
The wealthy financier John D. Spreckels warned, "Watch out for this Wegeforth. If you're a patient you get your tonsils or appendix out. But if you're working on the zoo, you get cut off at the pockets."
It took fifteen years, but the zoo eventually escaped the proddings and nitpickings of politicians, thanks largely to its founder. The proposal for a non-partisan municipal commission went on the ballot and passed. Later, voters endorsed a tax on themselves two cents per one-hundred dollar valuation-for the zoos upkeep. Three times earlier they'd voted for it, but each time it was turned down on technicalities.
Behind-the-scenes coaching by Dr. Wegeforth led many young San Diego people into career fields ranging from veterinary medicine to anthropology. Said Dr. Charles Schroeder: "He planted the seed. We did his bidding without further interference. He knew how to pull the most out of everyone who would help, and you felt good about it ... The world has known no more stubborn or determined man."
For the quarter century Dr. Wegeforth captained the zoo's policies and operations, he cajoled money and work out of the city's citizens of all persuasions. When funds evaporated in 1917, he staged a big event for Marines and Navy sailors, and charged ten cents admission - none of which the Zoological Society board knew about before hand, let alone authorized. It worked. His hobby of photography helped too. On all his journeys, he focused on zoos of other states and nations. He also brought back turtles, his favorite of all the zoo's animals.
In 1936, the zoo's amphitheater, Wegeforth Bowl, was named in honor of Harry Wegeforth, who died in 1941.
[biographical sketch from San Diego Originals by Theodore W. Fuller, published by California Profiles Publications, 1987]
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