Dolphins once swam in downtown Washington — and across the country
Recently, I obtained a post card I would like to know more about. It shows Porpoise Land, on K Street NW. Washington seems like an odd location for such a place, no? What happened to Porpoise Land?“Porpoise” and “land” don’t really go together, do they? A set of concrete pools a few blocks off North Capitol Street does not seem the most salubrious home for them.
“I spent all my spare time there and finally talked them into giving me a job,” Klute told a reporter from the Evening Star in 1969., presented five 45-minute shows a day — six a day on weekends — with two bottlenose dolphins:. The dolphins — not porpoises; that’s a different species — jumped through hoops, “danced” in hula skirts and tossed basketballs into nets., a dancing chicken and a piano-playing duck. Tickets were $1.25 for adults, 75 cents for children.
In 1962, Quinlan decided to train dolphins for marine shows, using wild dolphins caught off the coast of Florida. A few years later, Quinlan purchased 100 acres in Lincolnton, N.C., near Charlotte and built what Steven said was the first inland water park. There he trained dolphins and dolphin trainers, dispatching them to amusement parks across the country.Washington’s Porpoise Land lasted only two years.
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