| Playland Park | |
|---|---|
 Springbrook Park circa 1910 | |
 | |
| Type | Urban park |
| Location | South Bend, Indiana, United States |
| Area | 35 acres (14 ha) |
| Created | 1880 |
| Closed | 1961 |
Playland Park was an amusement park located in South Bend, Indiana. It was bounded by the St. Joseph River, Ironwood Drive, and Lincolnway East.
Playland Park started as a trolley park in 1880, originally called Springbook Park. By 1912 it had a Casino, an exhibition hall and a roller coaster.
In 1916 a race track was added. In 1924 Pete Redden became manager of the park. He held a contest and the park was renamed "Playland Park" and the roller coaster was renamed the "Jack Rabbit".
Besides being an amusement park, the park also had a baseball field. The South Bend Benders minor league teams and South Bend Blue Sox of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League played most of their games there.
A NASCAR race was held on track July 20, 1952. The race was won by Tim Flock with Lee Petty second. Herb Thomas won the pole.
The grandstand also had horse racing and fireworks. The park hosted the 4-H Fair for many years.
The park had a dance hall that hosted many bands such as Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington and Ozzie Nelson drawing 2,000 to 3,000 people on the weekends.
In 1961, Playland Park closed and was turned into a lighted par-3 golf course. That closed after 40 years.
It is now student housing for Indiana University South Bend. Only the concrete from the grandstands remains from the park.
A wooden roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its wooden track, which consists of running rails made of flat steel strips mounted on laminated wood. The support structure is also typically made of wood, but may also be made of steel lattice or truss, which has no bearing on a wooden coaster's classification. The type of wood often selected in the construction of wooden coasters worldwide is southern yellow pine, which grows abundantly in the southern United States, due to its density and adherence to different forms of pressure treatment.
The Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) is a nonprofit organization that operates an annual 15-day summer fair, 12-day winter fair, a seasonal amusement park, and indoor arenas in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The PNE fair is held at Hastings Park, beginning in mid-to-late August and ending in early September, usually Labour Day, and in mid-December until Christmas.
Bitter Lake is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, United States, named after its most notable feature, Bitter Lake. It was a mostly natural forest of Douglas-fir and Western Redcedar, inhabited by Native Americans, until the late 19th century. Development especially picked up when the Seattle-to-Everett Interurban streetcar reached the lake in 1906. A sawmill operated in the area until 1913, when most of the trees had been cut down.
Six Flags New England, formerly known as Gallup's Grove (1870–1886), Riverside Grove (1887–1911), Riverside Park (1912–1995) and Riverside: The Great Escape (1996–2000), is an amusement park located in Agawam, Massachusetts, a western suburb of Springfield, Massachusetts. Opening in the late 19th century, it is the oldest amusement park in the Six Flags chain, acquired by Premier Parks in 1996 and rebranded Six Flags New England in 2000. Superman The Ride is among the park's most notable rides, having appeared as a highly ranked roller coaster in the annual Golden Ticket Awards from Amusement Today since the ride opened in 2000.
Playland, often called Rye Playland and also known as Playland Amusement Park, is an amusement park located in Rye, New York, along the Long Island Sound. Built in 1928, the 280-acre (110 ha) park is owned by the Westchester County government. Beginning in 2018 the park has been operated under contract by Standard Amusements.
Playland Amusement Park is an amusement park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The amusement park is located at Hastings Park and is operated by the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE), an organization that hosts an annual summer fair and exhibition adjacent to Playland. Playland opened at its current location in 1958, although its predecessor, Happyland, operated at Hastings Park from 1929 to 1957. Playland was formally made a division of the PNE in 1993.
The National Amusement Park Historical Association (NAPHA) is an international organization dedicated to the preservation and enjoyment of the amusement and theme park industry – past, present and future.
Beech Bend is an amusement park, campground and automobile race track located in Warren County, in the U.S. state of Kentucky, just outside the limits of the city of Bowling Green.
Phoenix is a wooden roller coaster built in 1947 located at the Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, Pennsylvania. It was moved to its current location in central Pennsylvania in 1985. Prior to its purchase by Knoebels and relocation in the mid-1980s, it was operated under the name "The Rocket" at Playland Park in San Antonio, Texas.
Playland Park was an amusement park formerly located at 2222 North Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. Playland Park opened in 1943 and was owned by Jimmy Johnson. Prior to this it operated as a small venue at Brackenridge Park ca. 1942. It was the original home of The Rocket, a popular wooden roller coaster. Ed Gaida, who lived at Playland Park and had access to records and archives, wrote a book about the park and Johnson.
Magic Landing was a theme park located in El Paso, Texas, operating from 1984 to 1988. Magic Landing was one of two amusement parks operating in El Paso during the 1980s, the other being Western Playland.
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.
Clementon Park and Splash World is a mid-sized combination theme park and water park in Clementon, Camden County, New Jersey, United States. Also known as Clementon Lake Park, it is one of the world's oldest operating amusement parks and is one of only thirteen trolley parks that are still in the United States. It was owned and operated by Clementon Lake Holdings LLC a subsidiary of Premier Parks, LLC. The park had been closed since September 2019 and was put up for auction on March 23, 2021. At the auction, the park in its entirety was purchased by Indiana Beach Holdings, LLC, a company operated by real estate developer Gene Staples, for $2,370,000, with plans to reopen later in 2021 The park successfully reopened on June 25, 2021.
Rockaways' Playland was an amusement park that operated from 1902 to 1987 in Rockaway Beach in Queens, New York City. Bounded by Beach 97th and Beach 98th Streets between Rockaway Beach Boulevard and the Rockaway Beach and Boardwalk, Rockaways' Playland was created in 1902 by roller coaster designer LaMarcus Adna Thompson. By 1903 a ferry dock was added not far from the park, making it more convenient to reach than some of the competing amusement parks. The park was sold in 1927 to Robert Katlin, who added amenities such as a gym and swimming pool, and the following year to A. Joseph Geist, who achieved greater success than the previous owners. Between 1928 and 1970, Rockaways' Playland was extremely successful, drawing 175 million visitors. It closed in 1987 due to a sharp increase in the price of insurance.
Galaxi is the common name of a series of mass-produced roller coasters manufactured primarily by Italian company S.D.C, which went bankrupt in 1993. The roller coaster design was first used in the 1970s, and as of 2009, sixteen Galaxi coasters are still in park-based operation, across the North American, European, and Australian continents, with another two "Standing But Not Operating". At least 37 amusement parks are operating or have previously operated Galaxi coasters; this does not include those owned by funfairs and traveling ride companies.
Dodge Park Playland was an amusement park formerly located at Council Bluffs, Iowa, United States. It was in operation from 1948 to 1970. In its heyday as an amusement park, through the 1960's, it spanned the street in Council Bluffs that began from the old bridge in Omaha across the Missouri river. It had a large wooden roller coaster, food stands, games of chance, rides like "bumper cars" and "tilt-a-whirl", as well as children's rides. The park eventually had to give up the land on the south side of the street to make room for road and bridge changes. [1,2,3,4]. It was also known as Playland Speedway and aerial images exist of the park and track. [5].
Dinn Corporation was a roller coaster designing and manufacturing company established in West Chester, Ohio, in 1983 by Charles Dinn. The company is noted for moving and rebuilding several existing wooden coasters and building ten new wooden roller coasters in the United States.
Toboggan is a portable roller coaster that was built by Chance Industries from 1969 to the mid-1970s. The coaster features a small vehicle, holding two people, that climbs vertically inside a hollow steel tower then spirals back down around the same tower. There is a small section of track at the base of the tower with a few small dips and two turns to bring the ride vehicle back to the station. Each vehicle has a single rubber tire with a hydraulic clutch braking system that governs the speed of the vehicle as it descends the tower. The rubber tire engages a center rail that begins halfway through the first spiral. The ride stands 45 feet tall with a track length of 450 feet. A typical ride lasts approximately 70 seconds.
Playland Park was an amusement park located in Houston, Texas operating between 1940 and 1967. Louis Slusky opened Playland Park circa 1940 at 9200 South Main. It is popularly remembered for its wooden roller coaster, The Skyrocket. Texas' first elevated monorail train (1956) briefly operated near the park. Next to the park was an adjoining stock-car race track known as Playland Speedway. Slusky also facilitated the miniature children’s train located in Houston’s Hermann Park. This train may have originated from Playland Park. Playland Park closed in 1967.
The Giant Skyrocket was a wooden roller coaster designed and built by Audley Ingersoll in 1924 for the now defunct Luna Park in Houston Texas. The roller coaster is significant for a variety of reasons. It is one of the largest roller coasters ever built and was Houston's first major roller coaster. It was later relocated to Houston's Playland Park with involvement by John A. Miller and H. S. Smith before ultimately being closed in the early 1960s.