 |
Savin Rock was an American amusement park in West Haven, Connecticut. It was previously called The White City and was established in the 1870s . The park included a number of roller coasters, other rides and numerous funhouses.
The park has been mentioned in several novels such as Eleanor Estes's Rufus M., Stephen King's Low Men in Yellow Coats and The Boogeyman.
The amusement park was established in the 1870s after entrepreneur George Kelsey extended the trolley lines [1] and built a 1,500-foot pier at the end of Beach Street to accommodate a ferry service. Kelsey built the nearby Seaview Hotel, with rooms for up to 150 guests. [2] A beachside resort grew around the hotel and pier, including a bandstand, a fountain, an observatory, a wooded area for picnics, and a carousel which was revolved first by manpower and later by a horse on a treadmill. Amusements were built by other businessmen, and soon the park had a zoo, a museum and a dance hall. Promoters organized cock fights, horse races and prize fights. [2]
In 1903 carnival rides were added and the area was officially opened as an amusement park called the White City with an entrance at the corner of Savin Avenue and Thomas Street. Around it, taking in Rock, Campbell and Beach streets, were theaters, restaurants and hotels. [3] At its peak, “The Rock” took in a mile-long midway, with roller coasters, water chutes and carousel rides, [1] [4] There were bumper cars, fun houses, concerts and marathon dances. Visitors could enjoy shore dinners with frozen custard or split hot dogs, [5] drink "honeydew," munch on popcorn, and consult mechanical fortune tellers or The Laughing Lady. [6] Visitors could take in an auto race at the adjacent West Haven Speedway. [7] The Rock had a variety of rides for its tourists. Its oldest ride was The Old Mill, built in 1904. Another ride was Shoot-the-Chutes, which was rebuilt and renamed The Mill Chutes, featuring a moving stairway saving ride-goers a hike to the ride entrance. Among the other rides were the Jitterbug, The Virginia Reel, and The Seaplane Swing. It also had several rollercoasters such as The Sky Blazer, The Racer, The Whirlwind Racer, The White City Flyer, and The Thunderbolt.
By 1919, the park, now called Savin Rock Amusement Park, was attracting 1.2 million visitors each year. [8] Liberty Pier was added to the park in 1922 and it brought a new roller coaster, The Devil, and a funhouse, Bluebeard’s Castle. The pier was destroyed in a fire in 1932.
The Rock also had an array of funhouses. Noah’s Ark funhouse was decorated with Noah and his family on the deck, while the inside was filled with shaker boards and startling animal stunts. A Death Valley patented PTC funhouse was built on Beach Street, however its skull and cross bone façade was replaced with a Laffing Sal. Inside it is a swinging bridge a, a stretch of floor covered by a pillow, and a tilt room. Another funhouse was Bluebeard’s Castle which used Bluebeard’s mouth as an entrance and exit; it included “two tilt room, a floor with rollers, and lots of air holes. The stunts were plywood cutouts of Bluebeard and his gang…” [9]
Inside the White City was a movie theater, The Orpheum Theater, which was open all year round was owned by Doc Dewaltop from 1913 until it was destroyed by a fire in 1921. Jimmie’s Restaurant started out as Jimmie’s Hotdog Stand. It was famous for its split-top hotdogs. [10]
The Great Hurricane of 1938 flattened Beach Street and destroyed The Devil and The Thunderbolt rollercoaster. The park endured and another Thunderbolt was created. [5] Although there were plans to enlarge the park during the 1950s, [11] by the 1960s industrial and residential development had grown up around the park, and it gradually lost popularity and became run down. [5]
The park was finally closed in 1966. [1] [12] Many artifacts from the amusement park are preserved in the Savin Rock Museum and Learning Center in West Haven. [13]
In Eleanor Estes's 1943 children's novel Rufus M., the chapter "The Flying Horse Named Jimmy" takes place at a fictionalized version of the park during the World War I era. Estes grew up in West Haven, which she called Cranbury in her novels. [14] Savin Park also is the setting for chapter 4 of Stephen King's novella "Low Men in Yellow Coats", which appears in the 1999 collection "Hearts in Atlantis," and is mentioned in his short story "The Boogeyman." [15] It is also mentioned in Leigh Bardugo's 2019 novel Ninth House.
Riverview Park was an amusement park in Chicago, Illinois, which operated from 1904 to 1967. It was located on 74 acres in an area bound on the south by Belmont Avenue, on the east by Western Avenue, on the north by Lane Tech College Prep High School, and on the west by the North Branch of the Chicago River. It was located in the Roscoe Village neighborhood of Chicago's North Center community area.
Pacific Ocean Park was a 28-acre (11-hectare) nautical-themed amusement park built on a pier at Pier Avenue in the Ocean Park section of Santa Monica, California in 1958. Intended to compete with Disneyland, it replaced Ocean Park Pier (1926–1956). After it closed and fell into disrepair, the park and pier anchored the Dogtown area of Santa Monica.
Lakeside Amusement Park is a family-owned amusement park in Lakeside, Colorado, adjacent to Denver. Opened in 1908, it is the oldest amusement park in Colorado still operating in its original location, and is the lone remaining American amusement park to have had the name White City. The park, comprising nearly half of the Town of Lakeside that it was responsible for creating in 1907, features the landmark Tower of Jewels.
Casino Pier is an amusement park situated on a pier, in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. The pier opened in 1932 and formerly extended approximately 300 ft (91 m) into the Atlantic Ocean from the narrow strip of the Barnegat Peninsula, including approximately six blocks within Seaside Heights.
Morey’s Piers & Beachfront Waterparks is a seaside amusement park located on The Wildwoods' boardwalk in Wildwood and North Wildwood, New Jersey. The park has been family owned and operated since 1969 and is currently run by 2nd generation Morey Brothers, Will and Jack. Morey’s Piers has more than 100 rides and attractions across its three amusement piers and two beachfront waterparks.
Southport Pleasureland is an amusement park located in Southport, Merseyside, England. The park originally operated from 1913 to 2006 as Pleasureland Theme Park under the ownership of the Blackpool Pleasure Beach company. In 2007, the park re-opened under the ownership of Norman Wallis.
John A. Miller was an American roller coaster designer and builder, inventor, and businessman. Miller patented over 100 key roller coaster components, and is widely considered the "father of the modern high-speed roller coaster." During his lifetime, he participated in the design of approximately 150 coasters and was a key business partner and mentor to other well-known roller coaster designers, Harry C. Baker and John C. Allen.
Pacific Park is an oceanfront amusement park located in Santa Monica, California. The park, located on the Santa Monica Pier, looks directly out on the Pacific Ocean, in the direction of Catalina Island. It is the only amusement park directly located on the West Coast of the United States located on a pier and LA's only admission-free park. There are a total of thirteen rides in Pacific Park, including the world's first and only solar-powered ferris wheel that provides a view of the Pacific Ocean and a roller coaster that circles the majority of the park. Pacific Park is also home to 14 midway games and over-the-ocean food and retail outlets. It has appeared in over 500 movies and television shows such as Fat Albert, Hannah Montana, Hannah Montana: The Movie, Kidsongs, 90210, Bean, and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, as well as the popular video game Grand Theft Auto V. In 2020, it featured in the opening ident for the sky television channel Sky Comedy. It is operated by Premier Parks LLC.
Playland was a 10-acre (40,000-square-meter) seaside amusement park located next to Ocean Beach, in the Richmond District at the western edge of San Francisco, California, along Great Highway, bounded by Balboa and Fulton streets. It began as a collection of amusement rides and concessions in the late 19th century, and was preceded by Chutes at the Beach, opened in 1921. Playland closed Labor Day weekend in 1972.
Chance Rides is a roller coaster and amusement ride manufacturer. Originally founded in 1961, the current company was formed on May 16, 2002, when the former Chance Industries Inc. emerged from bankruptcy. The main office and manufacturing facility are located in Wichita, Kansas.
Zierer Karussell- und Spezialmaschinenbau GmbH & Co. KG is a German company located close to Deggendorf. Zierer manufactures ESC and Force line of roller coasters, as well as panoramic wheels, wave swingers, flying carpets, Hexentanz, and Kontiki rides. They have previously manufactured the Tivoli line of coasters, however these have now been discontinued. The company also has partnered with Schwarzkopf to build Lisebergbanan at Liseberg and Knightmare at Camelot Theme Park.
Miracle Strip Amusement Park was a theme park located in Panama City Beach, Florida, which operated from 1963 to 2004. The highlight of the park was The Starliner Roller Coaster, an "out-and-back" wooden coaster designed by John Allen upon the park's initial conception. A few other rides lay near the Starliner and a small arcade center and food stands rounded out the fledgling park.
The Pleasure Beach Great Yarmouth is an amusement park located in the seaside resort town of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, on the English east coast. It opened in 1909. The largest and most popular ride at the park is the wooden Roller Coaster which opened in 1932. There are also around twenty four other large rides at the park, as well as children's entertainment, amusement arcades, catering facilities, sweet shops and ice cream parlours.
White City is the common name of dozens of amusement parks in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Inspired by the White City and Midway Plaisance sections of the World's Columbian Exhibition of 1893, the parks started gaining in popularity in the last few years of the 19th century. After the 1901 Pan-American Exposition inspired the first Luna Park in Coney Island, a frenzy in building amusement parks ensued in the first two decades of the 20th century.
The Cyclone was a wooden roller coaster that operated at Revere Beach in Revere, Massachusetts, from 1925 until 1969. When Cyclone was constructed, it was the tallest roller coaster ever built, as well as being the first roller coaster in the world to reach 100 feet (30 m) in height. In addition to being the tallest roller coaster of its day, some also claim that it was the largest and fastest roller coaster in the world, with a length of 3,600 feet (1,100 m) and top speeds between 45 and 50 mph. Cyclone held the title of world's tallest roller coaster until 1964 when it was surpassed by Montaña Rusa at La Feria Chapultepec Mágico in Mexico City, Mexico.
Pleasure Beach Resort, formerly known as Blackpool Pleasure Beach, is an amusement park situated on Blackpool's South Shore, in the county of Lancashire, North West England. The park was founded in 1896 by A. W. G. Bean and his partner John Outhwaite. The current managing director is Amanda Thompson.
Frederick A. Church (1878–1936) was an American engineer and early roller coaster designer. He is most famous for his "Bobs" series of roller coasters that featured severe banking, steep drops, and nonstop action.
Thunderbolt was a wooden roller coaster which operated at Savin Rock Amusement Park in West Haven, Connecticut, from 1925 until 1938 when it was destroyed by a hurricane. It was rebuilt in modified form in 1939 and it continued to operate until 1956. When it was first built, it was purported to be the fastest roller coaster in the world.
[In 1925], Jimmie Gagliardi and his family started with a road stand, drawing customers with his split hot dogs.
{{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)Based on her own childhood, the town of Cranbury was her own home town of West Haven, Connecticut.
In "The Boogeyman," we're told that Lester had once taken his kids to Savin Rock in West Haven, Connecticut.
Media related to Savin Rock Amusement Park at Wikimedia Commons
| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
