Excelsior Amusement Park

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Excelsior Amusement Park
Excelsior Amusement Park (Minnesota).jpg
"The Cyclone"
Location Excelsior, Minnesota
Coordinates 44°54′12″N93°33′45″W / 44.90333°N 93.56250°W / 44.90333; -93.56250 Coordinates: 44°54′12″N93°33′45″W / 44.90333°N 93.56250°W / 44.90333; -93.56250
OwnerFred W. Pearce
Opened1925
Closed1973
Operating season Memorial Day through Labor Day
StatusClosed

Excelsior Amusement Park was an amusement park on Lake Minnetonka in the town of Excelsior, Minnesota, United States. The park, which operated from 1925 to 1973, was a popular destination for company picnics and day trips from the Twin Cities. [1]

Contents

Attractions

Inspired by Coney Island, the park's main attractions included a wooden roller coaster called the Cyclone, [2] a Ferris wheel, bumper cars, boat rides, a fun house, and a carousel. The fun house had a gunny sack slide, a spinning disc that hurled people into a padded sidewall and a turning barrel that was nearly impossible to walk through. The carousel, [3] built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company, was in service for the entire duration of the park and is still in use at Valleyfair Amusement Park in Shakopee. [4] A second ride, the Scrambler, [5] was also saved from destruction. [6] Contrary to widespread belief, the Cyclone roller coaster was not relocated to Valleyfair and renamed High Roller. The Cyclone was scrapped, and High Roller was designed especially for the new park. [4]

History

Excelsior Amusement Park opened in 1925 and was run by Fred W. Pearce, an established amusement park operator and roller coaster builder. [7] A streetcar line from Minneapolis brought guests to the park from Memorial Day through Labor Day until the line was closed in 1932. [4]

Excelsior Amusement Park was very popular in the 1940s and 1950s. During the 1960s the park became a hangout for Excelsior teens and attracted crowds of young people from around the Twin Cities. Several incidents occurred in the late 1960s, some with racial overtones, and the trouble contributed to the park's eventual decline. [4]

Danceland Ballroom at Excelsior Amusement Park hosted many well-known musical acts, including Lawrence Welk, Tommy Dorsey, the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones. [8] Legend has it that a visit by the Rolling Stones in June 1964 inspired the lyrics to the song You Can't Always Get What You Want. A chance meeting between Mick Jagger and local character "Mr. Jimmy" (Jimmy Hutmaker) gave rise to the story, which has never been verified. [9]

Excelsior Amusement Park closed in 1973 and was demolished soon thereafter. The park's owners then purchased land in Scott County for a new venue. Valleyfair, which opened in Shakopee in 1976, now serves as the Twin Cities' primary amusement park. [4] The former amusement park site is today the home of condominiums and Maynard's Restaurant of Excelsior. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

Excelsior, Minnesota Lakeside city in Minnesota, United States

Excelsior is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. Its population was 2,188 as of the 2010 census. As of 2018, its estimated population was 2,345. The community is located approximately 15 miles (24 km) southwest of downtown Minneapolis on the southern shore of Lake Minnetonka.

Lake Minnetonka

Lake Minnetonka is an lake located approximately 15 miles (24 km) west-southwest of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The lake lies within Hennepin and Carver counties and is surrounded by 13 municipalities. At 14,528 acres (5,879 ha), it is Minnesota's ninth largest lake and is popular among boaters, sailors, and fishermen. It is one of Minnesota's most affluent residential areas.

Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters

Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (PTC) is one of the oldest existing roller coaster manufacturing companies in the world. Based in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, it was established in 1904 by Henry Auchey and Chester Albright under the name Philadelphia Toboggan Company. The company manufactured carousels, wooden roller coasters, toboggans and later, roller coaster trains.

Valleyfair

Valleyfair is a 125-acre (51 ha) amusement park in Shakopee, Minnesota, United States. Owned by Cedar Fair, the park opened in 1976 and now features over 75 rides and attractions including eight roller coasters. Valleyfair also has a water park called Soak City which is included with the price of admission. Cedar Point and Valleyfair were the first two parks in the Cedar Fair chain and a combination of the park names – "cedar" and "fair" – were used to name the company.

Lakeside Amusement Park

Lakeside Amusement Park is a family-owned amusement park in Lakeside, Colorado, adjacent to Denver. Originally named White City, it was opened in 1908 as a popular amusement resort adjacent to Lake Rhoda by the Denver Tramway, making it a trolley park. The amusement park was soon sold to Denver brewer Adolph Zang. Eventually the name was changed to Lakeside Amusement Park, but the local populace kept referring to it by its original name for its glittering original display of over 100,000 lights. Today it is one of only thirteen trolley parks operating and one of the oldest amusement parks in the United States, and the oldest still running in Colorado. The park, comprising nearly half of the Town of Lakeside that it was responsible for creating in 1907, features the landmark Tower of Jewels.

Big Island Park Former American amusement park

Big Island Park was a popular tourist destination that existed near Minneapolis, Minnesota between 1906 and 1911 on Lake Minnetonka's Big Island. Today the property is a municipal nature park owned by the City of Orono.

Seabreeze Amusement Park, known locally as Seabreeze, is a historic amusement park in Irondequoit, a suburb of Rochester, New York. It is one of only thirteen trolley parks still operating in the United States.

Mild Thing was a junior roller coaster at the Valleyfair amusement park in Shakopee, Minnesota.

Steel Venom may refer to:

Allan Herschell Company

The Allan Herschell Company specialized in the creation of amusement rides, particularly carousels and roller coasters. The company manufactured portable machines which could be used by traveling carnival operators. It was started in 1915 in the town of North Tonawanda, just outside Buffalo, New York, US.

D. H. Morgan Manufacturing

D. H. Morgan Manufacturing, later simply known as Morgan, was a manufacturer of roller coaster trains, custom amusement rides, roller coasters, children's rides and other amusement devices. Founded in 1983, the company was originally headquartered in Scotts Valley, California. In 1991, the company moved to La Selva Beach, California and into a new 55,000 square-foot indoor manufacturing facility that also featured an acre of outdoor space. That facility was later increased to 75,000 square feet. The company produced a variety of rides from 1983 until 2001, but is probably best known for its steel hyper coasters.

Renegade (roller coaster)

Renegade is a wooden roller coaster at Valleyfair in Shakopee, Minnesota, that was designed by Great Coasters International. It was one of the first coasters built by Great Coasters International to use their Millennium Flyer trains, which are designed to give a smoother ride. Renegade's layout is a combination of an out-and-back and a Twister roller coaster.

High Roller (Valleyfair)

High Roller is a wooden roller coaster located at Valleyfair in Shakopee, Minnesota. High Roller is Valleyfair's oldest roller coaster, being built in 1976 when the park opened. It is an out-and-back type coaster, and is 70 feet at the highest peak with a top speed of 50 mph (80 km/h).

Excalibur (Valleyfair)

Excalibur is a steel roller coaster with a wooden structure located at Valleyfair in Shakopee, Minnesota. It was built in 1989 by Arrow Dynamics, for the cost of $3,000,000. The ride is 105 feet tall with a top speed of 54.5 mph and has a minimum height requirement of 48 inches. It follows a customized figure-eight track layout and is rather short for a major roller coaster, with a total ride duration of two minutes and thirteen seconds.

Jimmy Hutmaker, also known as "Mister Jimmy", was a celebrity in Excelsior, Minnesota until his death on October 3, 2007.

West View Park

West View Park was an American amusement park, located in West View, Pennsylvania, north of Pittsburgh. It was owned by T.M. Harton Company of Pittsburgh through its subsidiary company West View Park Company, which was founded in December 1905. The park opened on May 23, 1906. The dance hall that was constructed in the park, Danceland, became a landmark for various bands and artists that performed there. Notably, the park featured The Rolling Stones at Danceland in 1964. The park operated for 71 seasons, closing in 1977 due to declining revenues, higher operating costs, and a lack of investment. The park was in an abandoned state for several years and subjected to several fires started by arsonists before being torn down in 1980 and replaced by a shopping center and residential facility in 1981.

Wildwood Amusement Park

Wildwood Amusement Park was an amusement park and picnic grounds that existed from 1889 to 1932 on the southeast shore of White Bear Lake in Mahtomedi, Minnesota, United States. The park was built and operated by the Minneapolis and St. Paul Suburban Railroad Company, a subdivision of the Twin City Rapid Transit Company, which ran a streetcar line from Mahtomedi to nearby St. Paul. It was the sister park of Big Island Amusement Park on Lake Minnetonka, as both were intended to draw crowds of people to opposite ends of the Minneapolis-St. Paul streetcar system on weekends. Wildwood Amusement Park proved to be more successful than Big Island Amusement Park, which closed in 1911, and lasted until 1932 when financial losses brought about its demise.

Wonderland Amusement Park (Minneapolis) Closed amusement park in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Wonderland was an amusement park that operated in the Longfellow neighborhood of Minneapolis from 1905 through 1911. The ten-acre site was located between Lake Street and 32nd Street and 31st and 33rd Avenues.

Wildcat (Jolly Roger Amusement Park) Steel roller coaster

Wildcat is a roller coaster manufactured by Anton Schwarzkopf currently operating at Jolly Roger Amusement Park in Ocean City, Maryland. The ride has also operated at other parks such as Cedar Point and Valleyfair.

References

  1. Amusement parks of the Twin Cities Archived 2013-04-05 at the Wayback Machine slphistory.org. Retrieved: December 14, 2012.
  2. Cyclone roller coaster mndigital.org. Retrieved: September 6, 2014.
  3. Carousel mnhs.org. Retrieved: July 10, 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Marling, Karal Ann (1990). "Thrills and nostalgia: The amusement parks of Hennepin County". Hennepin History, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 13–22.
  5. Scrambler mndigital.org. Retrieved: July 10, 2013.
  6. 1 2 Historical Questions and Answers about Lake Minnetonka lakeminnetonkamag.com. Retrieved: July 10, 2013.
  7. Roller coasters built by Fred W. Pearce rcdb.com. Retrieved: December 14, 2012.
  8. Danceland and the Excelsior Amusement Park Archived 2012-02-15 at the Wayback Machine lakeminnetonka.com. Retrieved: December 14, 2012.
  9. Excelsior loses tie to rock and roll history kare11.com. Retrieved: December 14, 2012.
The Wyer House: residence for the managers of Excelsior Amusement Park Wyer House 2.JPG
The Wyer House: residence for the managers of Excelsior Amusement Park

Photos

Lake Minnetonka History