Defunct parks in your area

What defunct parks at one time existed in your area?When did it open and close?What coasters or other notable attractions did it have?I will start this thread with Jantzen Beach Amusement Park,Portland Oregon 1928-1970.It had 2 coasters,a large woodie designed by Carl Phare and a Traver junior coaster.The name of the coasters were the Dipper and Whirlwind Dipper,respectively.

At one time or another, the Baltimore area had dozens of parks. I'll have to research the exact years and what major attractions they had but right off the top of my head, these are the ones that come to mind:

Bay Shore Park 1902(?)-1949

Bay Island Beach 1949-1962(?)

Carlin's Park 1880's(?)-1958(?)

Gwynn Oak 1890's-1973

Sorry I don't have more details.

The most famous one in my area would be Crystal Beach. I can't think of any notabale attractions though. ;)

There was once Elitch Gardens in Denver. It was located at 38th and Tennyson. It opened in 1890 and closed in 1994 after moving to the new loaction by I-25. They had Twister, the original one that was built in 1964 by John Allen. It interwieved with the 1936 Wildcat that was also at Elitch Gardens. They had the Sidewinder which is at the new location and was the only coaster to survive the move. Twister is what Twister at Knoebels and Twister II at SFEG are based on. Both Twister at Knoebles and Twister II are almost clones but not quite.

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I eat glue.

Boardwalk & Baseball(aka Circus World) is the closest to me, oh I almost forgot Six Gun Territory near Silver Springs. Both former Florida parks

There is still the old bumper cars track and a couple of buildings still standing at what used to be Sauzer's Kiddieland that used to be in Schereville, IN here is the link to the pics I took of it.

http://communities.msn.com/IndianaBeachClub/dyfunctparks.msnw

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Beer, My Baby, and Coasters. Is this a great country or what? ;) http://www.geocities.com/stoogemanmoe/index

There were three in my area (Detroit). The first to close was Walled Lake, a place my parents used to go to in the late 40's and early 50's. I belived it closed in the 60's.

Edgewater Park closed sometime between 1969 (the last time I was there) and the early 1970's

And good old Boblo Island ini Amhurstberg, Ontario Canada.

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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead

I have heard of a city close to chicago called Michigan City, they used to have a figure-8 rolller coaster form the 1910's to 1960's and an entire amusement park by lake michigan, now it is just known as "Washington Park" and it doesnt have any roller coasters or any rides any more. Just picnic table etc. but it still has its bumper car rink and skating rink. Now all the resides in the name of "Park" is a zoo right across the street but other than that its gone. I have a picture of this amusement parks midways from 1912.

-Voss

Corey, can you post that pic for us? I live 10 miles away from where that park used to be. I can remember going there when i was a kid. There was another park that I used to work at called Enchanted Forest. They had a Mad Mouse and a Kiddie coaster made by Herschell. This park was in Porter, IN right off Hwy 20. A waterpark called Splashdown Dunes is there now where the aprk used to be.
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Beer, My Baby, and Coasters. Is this a great country or what? http://www.geocities.com/stoogemanmoe/index

*** This post was edited by stoogemanmoe on 1/26/2002. ***

I live in RI and basically on the border of Massachusetts and Rocky Point, Lincoln Park, Crescent Park are all defunct parks and thier are a lot more....

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Out of the coasters i've ridden here is wat i rank them overall:(ive been to canobie lake and SFNE)
1. S:RoS 2. Yankee Cannonball 3. Riverside Cyclone 4. Canobie Corkscrew 5. Thunderbolt 6. Galaxy 7. Mind Eraser 8. Dragon coaster 9. poison ivy's tangled

Belmont Park in northern Montreal closed in 1982.

Its had 2 coasters when its closed:

1- Cyclone, a mid size Schmeck/PTC out and back. Its ran 4 rows PTC! My mom spended her youth on it... She loved it!

2- Mouse Trap, a 1950's steel wild mouse.

I live in the defunct park capital of the US. At one time in our area within an hours drive we had around 5 or 6 parks.

Edgewood was the one in the town where I live Shamokin. They had 3 coasters The biggest was Tour the Alps then the one everyone talks about is the School of Mines it was a sidefriction that went thru scenec of how they mined coal in our area. The other one was a little kiddie wood coaster. Edgewood closed in the early or mid 60's to make way for a housing development and eventually a high school football stadium where the lake once was.

Another park was Doodle Bug about 15 minutes away it was a small kiddie park. It had an Allen Herchell Big Dipper. That park was only around a decade or so. It closed in the late 70's.

Yet another park was Island Park that had a wood coaster. That was about a half hours drive. Not sure when it closed or why.

There was another park about a half hour away too I don't remember the name though. it also had a wood coaster.

The last park I can think of was Angela Park. That was about an hour away. That had a coaster similar to Beastie at PKI. That closed in the mid to late 80's

The only park to survive in my area was Knoebels. Thats about 20 minutes away from me.

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There's tons in Ohio, so many that I made a page to document some (see below). Included are Olentangy Park, Minerva Park, Buckeye Lake, Chippewa Lake, Euclid Beach, Idora, and Sandy Beach. It's amazing to research these places and see the number of parks that existed 100 years ago. Some just had a carousel and dance hall, and those that had a coaster were lucky. Side frictions were your only option (upstops not patented until 1912, I believe).
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Don't.....look.....back! The Headless Horseman awaits you in 2002!
Defunct parks around Ohio

I know of 2 near me. There used to be a Busch Gardens in Van Nuys. It didn't have any coasters. It was too small. On www.defunctparks.com I read that there was a Kiddleland in Woodland Hills. These arew in California.

I had INDIANA BEACH which was bought by Six Flags. They planned to rebuild it in 1999. But i dont know why they did not. But there are still 4 or 5 coasters sitting in the grass just waiting to be resterected.

SiDeWiNdErCSC, I think you're confusing IB, which is up and running nicely, with Old Indiana Fun Park. I grew up as a kid in Jersey, and Palisades Park history is woven throughout state lore. I have to mention Riverview Park, which must have been AMAZING place, and Coney Island in Cincy...which Arrow Guy assumes everyone already knows, LOL...coaster coffee table books are great!

Living in N.FL for so long, I of course know about B&B, but CyrBuzz, you got me with Six Gun Territory, first I've heard of it. What was there?

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PoTP acolyte - remove fear to reply
Son of Drop Zone - PKI CoasterCamp I Champions!!!

Bertrand's Island in Lake Hopatcong NJ is the closest defunct to me... i grew up about 3/4 of a mile from it... it burned down right before i was born if im not mistaken... so it was pre-1984

We have Worlds of Fun it's pretty much defunct.... :)
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It's conflict that shows who a person really is!

Chicago has had a few but I am to lazy to look up opening and closing years.

1. Riverview Park: Chicago, Ill. Referred by many past generations as the greatest amusement park in history. If it was around today it would give CP a run for its money. This park had 11 coasters through its lifetime. I do remember that it closed in 1967.

2. Old Chicago: Bolingbrook, Ill. The worlds first indoor amusement park. It had shops that circled the center(rides area). To many problems plagued this park so it was shelved only after 5 years of operation. Its a shame because it was ahead of its time. Closed in 1980.

3. Adventureland: Addison, Ill. Dont know much about this park except what my parents told me about it. They said it was a bunch of carnival rides and one coaster. Closed in the 1970's.

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""An hour wait for a 2 minute thrill. Yes, we need our heads examined""

I probaly live in the most historical state in the U.S. (parks wide that is).

I had Euclid Beach, Idora Park, Ammericanna, Buckeye Lake, Gordon Gardens, Luna Park(never knew that was in Oh.), White City, and Puritas Springs. I cant remember any more but Im sure theres more.

Wow we got alot over here!No wonder Ohio is America's Rollercoast!

Check out this site for more info. http://www.univox.com/~barmah/jmiller/cleve.html