Kamper Park

John Kamper was born in Bremen, Germany, on July 19, 1841. At some point he immigrated to Mobile, AL, and later became a businessman in the Meridian, MS and Enterprise, AL areas. In 1890 he opened the first lumber mill in Hattiesburg, which he later sold to J.J. Newman Lumber Company.

In 1902, after working with the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Kamper Park and Zoo opened on forty acres located halfway between downtown Hattiesburg and his lumber mill.