Luna Park, Cleveland

Last updated
Post card (~1910) picture of the main entrance of Luna Park, Cleveland. A victim of the Great Depression, the park closed its gates in 1929. Luna-park-cleveland-entrance.jpg
Post card (~1910) picture of the main entrance of Luna Park, Cleveland. A victim of the Great Depression, the park closed its gates in 1929.
View of Luna Park, Cleveland's shoot-the-chutes ride, ca. 1910. Note the sign for the "10C/ Infant Incubators" in the background. Lunaparkcleveland-shootthechutes.jpg
View of Luna Park, Cleveland's shoot-the-chutes ride, ca. 1910. Note the sign for the "10¢ Infant Incubators" in the background.

Luna Park was a trolley park (a type of amusement park) in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1905 [1] to 1929. [2]

Contents

Specifications

Constructed by Frederick Ingersoll, the park occupied a hilly 35-acre (140,000 m2) site bounded by Woodland Avenue, Woodhill, Mt. Carmel (originally Ingersoll Road), and East 110th Street and included roller coasters, carousels, a fun house, a Ferris wheel, a roller rink, a shoot-the-chutes ride, a concert shell, a dance hall, bumper cars, a baseball field, and a 20,000-seat [3] stadium (unofficially called "Luna Bowl", destroyed by fire in August, 1929Clipped From The Akron Beacon Journal) in which American football was played. [1]

On May 18, 1905, Cleveland's Luna Park became the second Ingersoll park of that name (out of 44) [1] [4] to have opened before his death in 1927, and the second amusement park (after Luna Park, Pittsburgh, which opened weeks earlier) to be covered with electrical lighting. [4]

History

The monetary demands of upgrading and maintaining his embryonic chain of amusement parks forced Ingersoll, the original owner of Cleveland's Luna Park, to declare bankruptcy in 1908; [5] Ingersoll was forced to sell his Cleveland park [1] [6] to Matthew Bramley, an original investor in (and, later, owner of) Ingersoll's Luna Park Amusement Company who built the Cleveland Trinidad Paving Company into the largest paving company in the world. [7] Bramley added rides to Luna Park as its popularity as a trolley park grew, in part because beer was sold on the park grounds. [1]

After the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and the beginning of Prohibition (1920), a primary source of revenue was removed as the park's popularity waned. Bramley officially closed the gates to Luna Park in 1929 for the final time as the Great Depression took hold in the United States. The park was beset with incidences of arson, including the fire that destroyed the football stadium, and most of the rides were dismantled and moved to other amusement parks in the early 1930s. [8] [9] In June 1939, construction crews broke ground for a new housing development project to be built on the grounds where Luna Park once stood. [10] Woodhill Homes was completed on November 1, 1940, making it one of the nation's first public housing projects. [10]

Luna Bowl tenants

The stadium at Luna Park The Cleveland Panthers of the first American Football League and the Cleveland Bulldogs of the National Football League played their home games in Luna Bowl, [3] and (after the dismantling of the amusement rides had begun) the Federal League Cleveland Green Sox, [11] Luna Bowl was the home to Negro league baseball teams Cleveland Tigers (1928) Cleveland Stars (1932), Cleveland Giants (1933), and Cleveland Red Sox (1934). [12]

Collegiately, Case School of Applied Science defeated Western Reserve University 7–6 on November 19, 1927, during their annual rivalry football game, played only once at Luna Park. [13] The winning touchdown was scored by Case's Frank Herzegh.


Woodland Rink

The roller rink was added to Luna Park when the park was sold to Matthew Bramley in 1910. [1] The roller rink was known as the Woodland Rink. [14] On December 12, 1938, the last vestige of the park, the skating rink, was destroyed by fire. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amusement park</span> Park with rides and attractions

An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often featuring multiple areas with different themes. Unlike temporary and mobile funfairs and carnivals, amusement parks are stationary and built for long-lasting operation. They are more elaborate than city parks and playgrounds, usually providing attractions that cater to a variety of age groups. While amusement parks often contain themed areas, theme parks place a heavier focus with more intricately-designed themes that revolve around a particular subject or group of subjects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oaks Amusement Park</span> Amusement park in Portland, Oregon

Oaks Park is a small amusement park located 3.5 miles (5.6 km) south of downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Opened in May 1905, it is one of the oldest continually operating amusement parks in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luna Park</span> Name shared by dozens of currently operating and defunct amusement parks

Luna Park is a name shared by dozens of currently operating and defunct amusement parks. They are named after, and partly based on, the first Luna Park, which opened in 1903 during the heyday of large Coney Island parks. Luna parks are small-scale attraction parks, easily accessed, potentially addressed to the permanent or temporary residential market, and located in the suburbs or even near the town center. Luna parks mainly offer classic funfair attractions, newer features and catering services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lakeside Amusement Park</span> Amusement park in Lakeside, Colorado

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coney Island Cyclone</span> Wooden roller coaster in New York City

The Cyclone, also called the Coney Island Cyclone, is a wooden roller coaster at Luna Park in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City. Designed by Vernon Keenan, it opened to the public on June 26, 1927. The roller coaster is on a plot of land at the intersection of Surf Avenue and West 10th Street. The Cyclone reaches a maximum speed of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h) and has a total track length of 2,640 feet (800 m), with a maximum height of 85 feet (26 m).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White City (Shrewsbury, Massachusetts)</span>

White City was an amusement park located in Shrewsbury, a suburb of Worcester, Massachusetts. It bordered Lake Quinsigamond and ran from 1905 to 1960.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chutes Park</span> Former amusement park and baseball stadium in Los Angeles

Chutes Park in Los Angeles, California began as a trolley park in 1887. It was a 35-acre (140,000 m2) amusement park bounded by Grand Avenue on the west, Main Street on the east, Washington Boulevard on the north and 21st Street on the south. At various times it included rides, animal exhibits, a theater and a baseball park. In 1910 the park was sold to new owners and reopened as Luna Park. The amusement park closed in 1914.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luna Park, Alexandria</span> Trolley park in Virginia, US (1906–1915)

Luna Park was a trolley park in Alexandria County, Virginia that operated between 1906 and 1915. The amusement park was built for $500,000 in just three months by the Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Electric Railway, which was seeking to attract new businesses along its line after nearby racing and gambling establishments closed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indianola Park</span>

Indianola Park was a trolley park that operated in Columbus, Ohio's University District from 1905 to 1937. The amusement park was created by Charles Miles and Frederick Ingersoll, and peaked in popularity in the 1910s, entertaining crowds of up to 10,000 with the numerous roller coasters and rides, with up to 5,000 in the massive pool alone. The park was also the home field for the Columbus Panhandles for half of a decade. In the 1920s, new owners bought and remodeled the park, and it did well until it closed at the end of the Great Depression.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luna Park, Schenectady</span>

Luna Park was one of several names for an amusement park that existed in Rexford, New York, near Schenectady, from 1901 to 1933. In addition to Luna Park, it was also known as Dolle's Park, Colonnade Park, Palisades Park, and (again) Rexford Park before the rides were dismantled in 1933. Constructed around the Grand View Hotel, the park was similar to Ingersoll's other Luna Parks in which it was a trolley park with roller coasters, picnic pavilions, carousels, a fun house, a roller rink, a concert shell, a dance hall, a midway, a Whip, and a shoot-the-chutes ride which presented itself at the park entrance adjacent to a station of the Van Vranken electric trolley line. Roughly seven decades before the Skycoaster rides that now dot various United States amusement parks, Luna/Rexford Park featured an aerial swing ride.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luna Park, Pittsburgh</span> Amusement park

Luna Park was an amusement park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that operated from 1905 to 1909. Constructed and owned by Frederick Ingersoll, the park occupied a 16 acre hilly site bounded on the south by Atlantic Avenue and on the west by North Craig Street, and included many rides and amusements.

Frederick Ingersoll was an American inventor, designer, builder and entrepreneur who created the world's first chain of amusement parks and whose manufacturing company built 277 roller coasters, fueling the popularity of trolley parks in the first third of the twentieth century. Some of these parks and roller coasters still exist today.

Rocky Glen Park was a trolley park located near Moosic, Pennsylvania. Founded by Arthur Frothingham in 1886 as picnic grounds, it was transformed into an amusement park by engineer and entrepreneur Frederick Ingersoll in 1904. The park featured rides, arcades, and restaurants until its closure in 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riverside Amusement Park (Indianapolis)</span>

Riverside Amusement Park was an amusement park in Indianapolis, Indiana, US from 1903 to 1970. Originating as a joint venture between engineer/amusement park developer Frederick Ingersoll and Indianapolis businessmen J. Clyde Power, Albert Lieber, Bert Fiebleman, and Emmett Johnson, the park was built by Ingersoll's Pittsburgh Construction Company adjacent to Riverside City Park at West 30th Street between White River and the Central Canal in the Riverside subdivision of Indianapolis.

Electric Park was a name shared by dozens of amusement parks in the United States that were constructed as trolley parks and owned by electric companies and streetcar companies. After 1903, the success of Coney Island inspired a proliferation of parks named Luna Park and Electric Park, while the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 inspired the formation of White City amusement parks at roughly the same time. The existence of most of these parks was generally brief: the bulk of them closed by 1917, the year of the United States' entry into World War I. Many pavilions have outlasted the parks themselves, with a few of them still standing today.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luna Park, Charleston</span> Former amusement park on the West Side of Charleston, West Virginia

Luna Park was an amusement park on the West Side of Charleston, West Virginia, United States, that was open to the public from 1912 until 1923. Located on the western side of Charleston on the north bank of the Kanawha River, the park was a popular destination that featured a roller coaster, a dance pavilion, a public swimming pool, a roller rink, and live entertainment. Admission to the park cost 15 cents per person; a ride on the Royal Giant Dips roller coaster cost one dime per trip. It was a trolley park served by the Charleston Interurban Railroad Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort George Amusement Park</span> Former amusement park in New York City

Fort George Amusement Park was a trolley park and amusement park that operated in the Washington Heights and Inwood neighborhoods of Upper Manhattan, New York City, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It occupied an area between 190th and 192nd Streets east of Amsterdam Avenue, within present-day Highbridge Park.

The Cleveland Green Sox were a baseball club based in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1913, the "Green Sox" became charter members of the Federal League. The Cleveland Green Sox were managed by Baseball Hall of Fame member Cy Young and played the 1913 season before the franchise was folded in a territorial battle. Finishing in second place, the 1913 Green Sox hosted Federal League home games at Luna Park.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Luna Park". The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Case Western Reserve University. March 27, 1998. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  2. "History of the West Park Neighborhoods". WestParkHistory.com. Archived from the original on August 7, 2006. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  3. 1 2 Greenberg, Murray (2008), Passing Game: Benny Friedman and the Transformation of Football , PublicAffairs, ISBN   978-1-58648-477-4
  4. 1 2 "Luna Park's luminary: Entrepreneur/roller coaster designer deserves his due". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . September 1, 2008.
  5. Futrell, Jim (2002), Amusement Parks of Pennsylvania, Flagpole Books, ISBN   0-8117-2671-1
  6. Timeline: A Publication of the Ohio Historical Society, Ohio Historical Society, 2005.
  7. "Matthew Frederick Bramley". Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Case Western Reserve University. July 14, 1997. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  8. Historical, Cleveland. "Luna Park - A Sliver of Coney Island in Cleveland". Cleveland Historical. Retrieved 2023-10-12.
  9. "LUNA PARK | Encyclopedia of Cleveland History | Case Western Reserve University". case.edu. 2021-11-07. Retrieved 2023-10-12.
  10. 1 2 Glanville, Justin. "The Past and Future of Cleveland's Woodhill Homes". indepth.ideastream.org. Retrieved 2023-10-02.
  11. "1913 Cleveland Green Sox minor league baseball Roster on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
  12. "Luna Park - Cleveland". RetroSeasons. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
  13. "Case Football 1927/28 Season Record". Case.edu. Case Western Reserve University . Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  14. "Woodland Rink Luna Park, Cleveland, OH". RINK HISTORY. Retrieved 2023-10-12.

41°29′23″N81°36′42″W / 41.48972°N 81.61167°W / 41.48972; -81.61167