Anheuser-Busch

Early History of Busch Gardens Theme Parks
The first president of Anheuser-Busch, Adolphus Busch, opened a 30 acre estate and gardens in Pasadena California in 1903. Originally this park was free to enter and featured gardens, a mill, walkways, fountains, and ponds. Unfortunately lost revenue due to prohibition, the lose of both original operators of the park, and rising maintanence costs led the park to close in 1937.

Anheuser-Busch did not attempt to operate another park until 1959, when the company built a brewery on a 160-acre plot of land in Tampa Bay, Florida with an accompanying garden to attract more visitors and customers to the brewery. This park is still in operation today as Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, the sister park to Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

The company had several other smaller attempts to make theme parks, one in Los Angeles California which opened in 1964 and featured gardens, bird displays, and a monorail. This park closed in 1977 to be converted into a promotional facility for the company but retained some of the birds until 1979 when the rest of the facility closed due to expansions of the brewery. The rest of the birds were sent to Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Tampa.