Ontario's Provincial Plaques

Here's where you can learn a little Ontario history.

Jumbo

Photo by Alan L Brown - August 28, 2004

Photo by Bett - September 5, 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

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 3.3 m tall, was one of the foremost attractions of the Barnum and Bailey Circus.

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