Before King Kong became a movie legend, Chicago had its own giant.

His name was Bushman, and for more than twenty years, he was one of the most beloved figures in the city. Crowds packed Lincoln Park Zoo to see him. Schoolchildren sang songs about him. Sailors visited him before heading off to war. Chicagoans brought him green bananas on St. Patrick’s Day. And when he died on New Year’s Day in 1951, thousands came to say goodbye.

This episode of Lost Chicago tells the strange, funny, heartbreaking story of Bushman, the orphaned gorilla from Africa who became a Depression-era symbol, a wartime celebrity, and one of the most mourned animals in Chicago history.

But Bushman’s story is also complicated. He was adored, but caged. Celebrated, but alone. And decades after his death, Chicago still refused to let him disappear.