Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Amusement Parks
    Amusement Parks
    Amusement Parks
    Ebook111 pages49 minutes

    Amusement Parks

    By Jim Hillman

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    From Jones's Woods, America's first amusement resort, to Coney Island during the golden age of the mid-1900s, and well beyond into the twenty-first century, the thrills of the amusement park have been a treasured part of childhood for Americans from coast to coast. Though many of the country's grand amusement treasures have now vanished, and many other parks are struggling for survival, their memory and legacy are very much alive: there will be a fascination with these American classics as long as the clatter of the old coaster cars and the thumping of the carousel band organ remains. Through thoroughly researched text and historic images, Amusement Parks author and park enthusiast Jim Hillman captures the sights, smells, and continuing vitality of a grand American tradition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateMay 10, 2013
    ISBN9780747813583
    Amusement Parks
    Author

    Jim Hillman

    John Murphy, son of the Miramar Club's original general manager and former club employee, and Jim Hillman, childhood Riviera competitive swimmer, historical author, and instructor of sociology, explore the Propylaeum, Highland Golf and Country Club, Dolphin Club, Heather Hills, and several other facilities. Indianapolis Social Clubs provides nearly 200 rare vintage photographic memories that capture the heart, soul, and history of the clubs.

    Read more from Jim Hillman

    Related to Amusement Parks

    Titles in the series (27)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    United States History For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Olympics Do Not Matter

      Feb 9, 2018

      The Olympics Do Not Matter
      4 min read

    • Article

      Iconic Coney Island

      May 15, 2022

      Iconic Coney Island
      2 min read

    • Article

      Postcards from PARADISE

      Jun 23, 2020

      Postcards from PARADISE
      4 min read

    • Article

      Havens Of History

      Jul 16, 2019

      Searching for sunken treasure? You’ll find it in Port Isabel at the Treasures of the Gulf Museum, home of shipwrecked booty from a 16th-century Spanish flotilla laden with gold. Uncover culinary riches at Joe’s Oyster Bar & Grill, where everything is

      1 min read

    • Article

      Places Of Interest

      Aug 30, 2021

      To take a self-guided walking tour of the most significant buildings around town, such as the NAB bank building from 1909, download the brochure Tour Our Historic Buildings of Walcha (see below). This 12-building complex at 111 Derby Street is open 1

      2 min read

    • Article

      Bay Area

      Jul 6, 2021

      Bay Area
      2 min read

    • Article

      Building on History

      Mar 28, 2023

      Building on History
      9 min read

    • Article

      As Adirondack As It Gets

      Jun 23, 2022

      As Adirondack As It Gets
      8 min read

    • Article

      Highways and hobbies

      Feb 27, 2024

      Highways and hobbies
      9 min read

    • Article

      Ripping Yarns

      Oct 18, 2021

      Ripping Yarns
      6 min read

    • Article

      Echoes Of The Past

      Jul 22, 2021

      Echoes Of The Past
      7 min read

    • Article

      Gilding The Lilies

      Jun 26, 2022

      Gilding The Lilies
      7 min read

    • Article

      Upstate New York

      Jun 24, 2016

      Upstate New York
      3 min read

    • Article

      Old Boats Heaven

      Aug 24, 2022

      Old Boats Heaven
      9 min read

    • Article

      Century Club 100 YEARS

      Nov 25, 2021

      Century Club 100 YEARS
      8 min read

    • Article

      Towns That Talk

      Jun 4, 2020

      Towns That Talk
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Lungs Of OUR CITIES

      Mar 30, 2022

      The Lungs Of OUR CITIES
      2 min read

    • Article

      ECHOES Of The PAST

      Jun 4, 2020

      ECHOES Of The PAST
      9 min read

    • Article

      Hot List

      Nov 14, 2019

      Hot List
      8 min read

    • Article

      Salt Lake City United States

      Mar 18, 2021

      Salt Lake City United States
      3 min read

    • Article

      Why We Love THE EAST COAST

      May 26, 2021

      Why We Love THE EAST COAST
      9 min read

    • Article

      Land Of Enchantment

      Jul 19, 2023

      Land Of Enchantment
      9 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Amusement Parks

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Amusement Parks - Jim Hillman

      GENESIS

      MAYBE THE AROMAS are what first grab your attention: an odd combination of fried foods, fresh flowers, whipped cotton candy, the heat rising from the asphalt walkways, the coaster grease, and an unidentified smell or two. It could be the sounds that get you. You hear the band organ music of the carousel, the giggles and screams of excited children, the hawkers working the games of chance, and the clicking and clanking of the roller coaster trains on the way to the crest of the lift hill. There are lights everywhere, some flashing, some changing colors. There are unique buildings with numerous signs, and strange moving machines going in multiple directions, seemingly at once. You feel excited yet apprehensive as you enter the gates of the amusement park.

      Those very sensations have been experienced by those of us fortunate enough to have visited America’s amusement parks. The origination of the amusement industry in the United States was not an organized progression. Evolving from humble picnic grounds and gathering spots, recreational opportunities grew and mirrored counterparts on other continents.

      The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries saw rapid growth of European towns and the corresponding crowdedness of communal living, punctuated by dismal, smoky industry, unsavory sanitary conditions, and general bleakness. Newly emerging pleasure gardens offered an oasis to those city dwellers desiring a simple, convenient escape from urban life. As immediate predecessors to the traditional American amusement park, the pleasure gardens of Europe grew to include simple diversions such as open areas for community socializing, developed swimming areas, dancing halls, games of chance, exhibitionist entertainment, and primitive, often animal-powered rides.

      The masses flocked to the gardens to escape the pressures of urban life. But the very cities that nurtured the desire for escape eventually accelerated the decline and near disappearance of these European play lands. By the close of the politically unstable eighteenth century, few of the gardens survived. Dyrehavsbakken in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Prater in Vienna, Austria, are the two remaining examples of those wonderful gardens.

      Artistic sideshow banners have become a familiar sight on Coney Island midways, harkening back to the days when exhibitionist displays were common entertainment at European pleasure gardens.

      Similar to the gardens across the pond, but well before the advent of multimillion-dollar, corporate-owned, and profit-focused theme parks, simple pleasure gardens dotted the American landscape. Jones Woods, located in NewYork along the East River near Manhattan, is documented as America’s first major amusement area. From the early 1800s, the Woods expanded from a simple gathering spot to include then-novel amenities such as a designated picnic area, donkey rides, and even a bustling beer hall.

      Across America, but mostly concentrated along the east coast, small and primitive resorts began to appear in fields and tree groves in or around developing cities, usually near bodies of water or areas known for their natural beauty. Of upmost significance, the grand entrepreneurial experiment known as Coney Island took shape on a small sliver of land-hugging Brooklyn, New York. Located adjacent to the largest concentration of people in America, this seaside peninsula was ripe for development. The first hotel was built and accepted visitors in 1829, capitalizing on the soothing ocean waves and smooth sands of the nearby beach. By the mid-1800s, bathing, dining, dancing, and other recreational facilities were actively in use, and rail service was supplied to the blooming resort area. Before long, the working man’s paradise was brimming with more sophisticated entertainment offerings and often questionable diversions.

      A Coney Island midway hawker, as seen in the late 1990s, attracts a customer for Reynolds’ Believe It You’re Nuts Hysterical Museum. Bobby Reynolds remains the last of the great sideshow showmen on the sawdust trail.

      The ocean breeze blew forth vaudeville and cabaret theaters alongside the crystal balls of fortunetellers, street sideshow hawkers, pickpockets, and medicine men touting their tonics. The 300-foot Iron Tower, relocated from the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, was erected on the peninsula in 1877, and in 1884, the world’s first traditional wooden roller coaster, invented by LaMarcus Thompson, was constructed. Known as the Switchback Railway, this new attraction encouraged numerous businessmen to invest in the Brooklyn area known as Coney Island; the peninsula was becoming a local retreat and regional vacation destination. It is not an exaggeration to state that most people had heard

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1