Trolley Tuesday 9/7/21 - Trolley Parks

Everybody likes a good amusement park, which is basically the coldest take ever uttered on this blog, but often the journey to an amusement park is the hell before the heaven. Gridlock traffic on the freeway, gridlock getting into the parking structures, having to pay $25 just to park, it all feels so stressful without factoring in a day's itinerary! What if there was a way to get to an amusement park without having to worry about getting there? Well, before the dominance of the automobile, streetcar and interurban companies had that business easily handled. On today's Trolley Tuesday, we'll look at one of the lesser-known yet very-much-fun aspects of electric railroading: the passenger-pleasing and profit-generating Trolley Park!

The Social Effect of Streetcars

Main Street in Los Angeles, 1870s.
(The Homestead Blog)

The first electric streetcars in Austin, Texas, featuring
a rather fanciful streetlight and wire support pole.
(Not Even Past)

If there was one effect of electric railways that enriched the rich and also offended the rich, it was that it allowed the lower classes to "move about" as the steam railways did in the early 1830s. Streetcars were a symbol of innovation and modernity, a chance for any small town in the wilds of Wyoming or the unbuilt reaches of Southern California to be like New York or San Francisco, a major metropolis at last. With the streetcars came increased demand (and supply) of real estate and utilities, where canny business magnates could sell homes and power to people wanting to join this brave new world. However, the knock-on effect from having people moving into town was the need for entertainment. Lining streets with streetlights and calling it "Electric Avenue" was beginning to look passé and thus electric railway magnates turned to local investments to find their entertainment.

Frederick Law Olmsted and part of his diagrams for Central Park.
(HowStuffWorks)

A line of four open-sided summer cars curve through Philadelphia's
Fairmount Park in Pennsylvania, en route to Georges Hill station.
(Philadelphia Trolley Tracks)

That entertainment turned out to be local city parks. Often, these were clearings along riverbanks or hills set aside for people to have green space. Many city planners, like the famous Frederick Law Olmsted who designed New York's Central Park, desired as much green space as they could afford so citizens of big cities had a place to stretch their arms out and relax, albeit in a controlled and manicured environment. Many interurban lines were located out in the boonies and, thus, had access to all the undeveloped greenspace they wanted. Streetcar planners implemented routes to dedicated picnic and recreation areas that capitalized on the desire for a nice, quiet reprieve from the hustle and bustle of Main Street. An example of this was Hillside Park on the Shelburne Falls & Colrain Street Railway in Massachusetts, which hosted band concerts and baseball games through the 1920s. Another famous example, this time carrying streetcars through the park, was Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which even had its own rapid transit line featuring open-sided summer cars. 

The Shelburne Falls & Colrain Street Railway's adorable little No. 10,
shoving a light boxcar across the Bridge of Flowers.
(Rouvalis Flowers)

Hedging On the Midway

A contemporary poster for the World's Columbian Exposition.
(Smorgasbord Blog Magazine)

"White City" at night, overlooking the Reflection Pool.
(The American Experience, PBS)

As more and more trolley parks sprouted up in the United States by 1900, primarily in the Northeast, a new trend began popping up that made park operators and owners sit up and beg. The 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois, brought with it a growing public want for permanent fair installations in their own parks that included rides and midway carnival games. Thus, the amusement park industry as we know it today was born as streetcar manufacturers stumbled over themselves to find the best concessions at the best prices. In Pennsylvania, parks such as Lakemont Park in Altoona, Kennywood in Pittsburgh, and Dorney Park in Allentown were popping up with picnic groves and swimming pools for Keystone staters to beat the heat and enjoy a nice day out. The most prominent of these parks was Hershey Park, founded by Milton Hershey and served by his own eponymous streetcar company, as a retreat for his employees and their families.

A winter scene at Lakemont Park, featuring the tracks of
the Altoona & Logan Valley Electric Railway.
(Unknown Author)

An interurban car of the Lackawanna & Wyoming Railroad prepares
to leave Rocky Glen Park in Moosic, Pennsylvania, on an unknown date.
The trolley park lost its trolley in 1910 and the "Million Dollar Coaster" seen here
was later dismantled in 1975.
(Unknown Author)

Chutes Park in Los Angeles.
(Public Domain)

The entrance to Idora Park, as seen in a postcard view,
shows a Key System car arriving with parkgoers.
(AlamedaInfo)

The gamble worked, and pretty soon green spaces were out and amusement parks were in. In Los Angeles, a "Shoot the Chutes" ride opened in 1887 as "Chutes Park", featuring the titular giant watery drop of doom as its main attraction. Just north of that, in Oakland, Francis Marion Smith (the Borax King) opened up Idora Park with picnic grounds, a bandstand, and airshow demonstrations, with streetcar service provided by his own Key System. Deep in the woods of Delaware, a picnic spot called Brandywine Springs was transformed into a giant carnival and run by both the local electric railway and the steam railway. In Boston, Massachusetts, the narrow-gauge Boston, Revere Beach, & Lynn served the famous "Wonderland Amusement Park", which housed plenty of thrilling attractions by 1906 with a "Shoot the Chutes", a "Scenic Railway" roller coaster, and of course a carousel. Even the Mormons got in on the trolley park action by building their own Salt Lake haven in the form of the Saltair Resort, with its own dedicated interurban railway. But by far, considering all of the trolley parks packed with fairgoers and amusement enthusiasts, the most successful of these parks had to be the ones located at the end of the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit "D" Train Line's southern terminus: Coney Island.

Coney Island's old Stillwell Avenue Terminal in a postcard.
(Forgotten NY)

Coney Island in the early 1900s. This is along Surf Avenue,
with the "Loop The Loop" coaster located on West 10th and Surf.
(Mental Floss)

Coney Island was the turning point for trolley parks in the United States, as amusement parks lining up the waterfront gave rise to the infamous Sodom-by-the-Sea that brought shock and derision from New York's elite while giving its lower classes freedom to be themselves. Originally planned by Central Park's designer, Frederick Olmsted, as the same manicured experience, the rapid influx of movement brought on by the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Company meant that people young and old, white or black, could have their taste of amusement on just a dime and a transfer ticket. Casinos, brothels, and electric lights littered Coney Island as the screams of roller coaster and the crashing din of midway games filled the air, while subway trains kept the passengers right on coming during the busy summer months. To the rest of the United States, Coney Island was not a shameful spot on the country's moral compass, but it was certainly something to emulate, and emulate it they did.

"Sodom by the Sea", now with local streetcar service.
(Exciting New York)

Electric Parks and Luna Parks

Kansas City, Missouri's "Electric Park", with a KC streetcar on the platform.
(Portland History)

Baltimore's Electric Park in 1907, whose trolley tracks stopped
at the park gates. The park was gone by 1916.
(Public Domain)

Trolley parks were, of course, an often independent affair with no regard given to franchising or expansion like the amusement parks of today. However, if there was a case to be made for similarly-named parks, then the trend of "Electric Parks" and "Luna Parks" would be a strong contender. Electricity was, in the late 1890s and early 1900s, still a marvel with the aforementioned 1893 World Columbian Exposition showing off the power of the electric light as "White City" lit up every night for miles around. As an incentive to both use excess electrical generation and promote its use to the average homeowner, utility and streetcar companies collaborated to emulate the Exposition by creating "Electric Parks". Not much differentiated them from the amusement parks of their day, as all desired to emulate the glory that was Coney Island, and at one point as many as 38 parks around the United States were named "Electric Park" and run by a streetcar company.

Seattle's West Seattle-Luna Park Trolley.
(Scott Law)

When people now think of Luna Park, Melbourne's 
and Sydney's in Australia sure come to mind.
(PRO Victoria)

The other copycat name, Luna Park, was directly taken from Coney Island's own which opened on May 16, 1903. The name came from one of the rides created by inventors Frederic Thompson and Elmer "Skip" Dundy, "A Trip to the Moon", and after the success of Luna Park, Frederick Ingersoll (another ride inventor) licensed the name to 44 other parks all around the world. Some of these were located in the United States and served by streetcars, including the aforementioned Chutes Park in Los Angeles, but the most famous of these parks ended up being the ones in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, both of which were served by their own electric streetcar companies. Unlike the other trolley parks, Coney Island's subway company saw no extra profits from the amusement park industry other than ticket sales, but they continued to be a high revenue-earner when the season demanded it.

Coney Island's local streetcar was handled by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company.
(Unknown Author)

Trolley Parks in Decline

Cars pack the parking lot on opening day at the Happiest Place on Earth,
Disneyland, on July 7, 1955. The traffic backing up Harbor Blvd. was nightmarish.
(The Atlantic)

A 1948 view shows veteran trolley park Kennywood with its
front entrance stop handled by the Monongahela Street Railway.
(Kennywood)

Unfortunately, the amusement park business proved to be more precarious than the electric streetcar business by the 1920s. Due to the rise of the automobile, many citizens realized they could just drive out somewhere else to find their own amusement rather than depend on what was seen as a preplanned, "presentable" amusement by a big transport company. Trolley parks began closing in the United States as early as 1916, with many going bankrupt following a bad season or because of the Great Depression of the 1930s. Due to the lower passenger numbers, electric railways saw fit to give up their amusement parks and sell them to private owners who could at least keep them going for longer. Past the 1940s, only fifteen trolley parks of the some-two-thousand parks all over the United States remained in business. 

Wonderland Greyhound Park in the 1930s.
(Public Domain)

Certainly the oddest trolley ever featured on this blog:
the overhead sky tram that operated over the Sutro Baths.
(OpenSFHistory)

Many of the parks that closed, like Wonderland in Revere Beach, found new uses like dog racing parks or were toned down into being normal amusement-less city parks. Others, like Coney Island's famous parks, were demolished by city planner (and enemy of the streetcar) Robert Moses in favor of cleaning up what was seen as the city's filthiest vice. Other attractions like the Sutro Baths and Cliff House in San Francisco, California, were summarily closed due to age or refitted to suit modern tastes as the streetcar lines that served them closed as well. It seemed as the tide turned from inner-city living to suburban flight, it spelled the death knell for urban parks in general. By the 1980s, most of these once-great trolley parks were closed and demolished, while the ones left running found new owners and better care without their streetcars.

The modern-day Wilmington & Western Railway
crossing through the former site of Brandywine Springs Park.
(Chris Sanfino)

Surviving Trolley Parks

Lakemont Park's historic "Leap the Dips", a side-friction
roller coaster dating back to 1902.
(Public Domain)

Today, fifteen original trolley parks remain in operation with the lion's share located in the Northeast United States. The oldest of these parks is Lake Compounce in Bristol, Connecticut, which was originally founded in 1846 but gained a streetcar line (the Bristol & Plainville Tramway Company) in 1895. Today, the park is owned by Parques Reunidos, an entertainment company in Spain, and features an original Osgood-Bradley trolley car built for the New Haven's Connecticut Company in 1914. Pennsylvania has also been able to hold onto its trolley parks with Dorney Park, Kennywood, and Lakemont Park continuing to operate into the 21st Century. Lakemont Park in particular is home to the oldest surviving (and operating) roller-coaster in the world, "Leap the Dips", which was originally constructed in 1902 when the park was served by the Altoona & Logan Valley Electric Railway.

A 1918 ticket to Lakemont Park's Summer festivities.
(The Amusement Parkives)

Oaks Amusement Park, which has its train needs met by a
Chance Metal Products "CP Huntington" miniature train.
(Portland Living on the Cheap)

Another famous trolley park is Oaks Amusement Park in Portland, Oregon, which was originally opened in 1905 by the Oregon Water Power & Railway Company (which became the Portland Railway Light & Power in 1906). In the 1950s, the park was home to three giant steam locomotives, Southern Pacific 4449, Spokane Portland & Seattle 700, and Oregon Rail & Navigation 197, and its original streetcar line continues to see use as the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation's "Oaks Park" line for weekend and holiday excursions. Two more parks worth mentioning are Lakeside Amusement Park in Denver, Colorado, a former "White City" patterned after the 1893 Columbian Exposition and founded by the Denver Tramway, and Ravinia Park in Highland Park, Illinois, originally founded by the Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee Electric Railroad. Obviously, there are so many other trolley parks worth mentioning here, but my best advice is to go and visit them and maybe re-live a little street railway history in the process!

A two-car North Shore train at Ravinia in 1955, the last day of service for the railway.
(C. Edward Hedstrom, Jr.)

There are also many remnants of trolley parks if you can't afford the admission ticket that are still worth seeing. Along the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority's Blue Line is the "Wonderland" Station, which was named after the long-defunct amusement park and dog racing track, while along the Wilmington and Western Railway in Wilmington, Delaware, you can still set the site of Brandywine Springs Amusement Park as the train rolls through Newport. 

Next stop, Wonderland!
(The Subway Nut)

Thank you for reading today's Trolley post, and watch your step as you alight on the platform. My resources today included the amusement parks mentioned above but particularly Dorney Park, Kennywood, and Lakemont Park, as well as Lake Compounce, Hersheypark, and Oaks Park. If you want to learn more about the history of Coney Island and the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and why both were so important, I highly recommend the Defunctland documentaries on both, linked within. The trolley gifs in our posts are made by myself and can be found under “Motorman Reymond’s Railroad Gif Carhouse”. On Thursday, we look at another Los Angeles amusement that's the shortest and oldest operating railway in the city! For now, you can follow myself or my editor on Twitter, buy a shirt or sticker from our Redbubble stand, or purchase my editor's self-developed board game! It's like Ticket to Ride, but cooler! (and you get to support him through it!) Until next time, ride safe!