Electric Park

Electric Park is a genre of defunct amusement parks operating from the 1880s to the 1920s, to showcase the electrification of, and the advent of electricity as a utility in, the United States. Many were constructed as trolley parks and owned by electric companies and streetcar companies.^[1] After 1903, the success of Coney Island inspired a proliferation of parks named Luna Park and Electric Park,^[2] and the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 inspired the formation of White City amusement parks at about the same time. The existence of most of these parks was generally brief, roughly 15 years on average, and the bulk of them closed by 1917, when the United States entered World War I. Many of the parks' pavilions have outlasted the parks.

Overview

This postcard shows Electric Park, Baltimore's main entrance, c. 1907, which was also a trolley stop, as evidenced by the tracks in the lower right corner. The buildings were razed in 1916.

The emergence of trolley parks in the 1890s coincided with the rise to prominence of three entities: the electric utility companies (which grew rapidly as much of the United States was undergoing electrification since the 1880s), the railway companies (which constructed new interurban rail lines mainly in the eastern half of the U. S.), and – starting about 1890 – the replacement of horse-drawn cars by electric trolley companies. A fourth contributor to the rise in amusement parks in the first decade of the 20th century was the success of Coney Island,^[3] which spurred the establishment of dozens of Electric Parks, Luna Parks, and White City amusement parks (the latter actually inspired by White City in the 1893 World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago), with many metropolitan areas having at least two parks with these names.

Most Electric Parks were owned by electric companies and trolley companies, many of which transported workers and shoppers between downtowns to residential and industrial areas. After 1900, interurban electric rail lines began carrying commuters from one city to another. Originally, the trolleys and interurban lines either operated at a reduced level on weekends or were completely idle. To generate weekend traffic, the companies eventually created new destinations, generally at the end of their lines, for the public to attend on the weekends, at picnic parks, or later at amusement parks.^[2] Regardless of the type of park, the destinations owned by the local electric company or accessed by the electric trolley were commonly called electric parks. After 1903, Luna Park in Coney Island's success (with the park's entrance decked with electric lights) inspired the creation of Electric Parks, which spread throughout North America. At the same time, the similarly-inspired Frederick Ingersoll started to construct his Luna Park empire.

Like their Luna Park and White City cousins, a typical Electric Park featured a shoot the chute and lagoon, a roller coaster (usually a figure eight or a mountain railway), a midway, a Ferris wheel, games, and a pavilion. Most also had miniature railroads. Many cities had two, or all three, of the triumvirate of Electric Park, Luna Park, and White City in their vicinity, with each trying to outdo the others with new attractions, and exhibiting a simulation of the Johnstown Flood of 1889. The competition was fierce, often driving the electric parks out of business with increasing costs of equipment upgrades, upkeep, and insurance. Some succumbed to fire. As a result, most were out of business by 1917, the year the United States entered World War I. By the time troops returned to the U.S. in 1919, almost all the Electric Parks were gone.

List of Electric Parks

The identity of the first Electric Park is unknown,^[4] and the total number is unknown, but many opened in the late 1800s.

• Electric Park, Aberdeen, Washington
• Electric Park, Atlanta, Georgia^[4]
• Electric Park, Baltimore, Maryland (June 1896 – 1916)^[5][6][7][8]
• Electric Park, Bellingham, Washington^[4]

This postcard shows Electric Park, Baltimore's Johnstown Flood exhibit. Many Electric Parks, White City amusement parks, and Luna Parks installed state-of-the-art simulations of the 1889 disaster.

• Electric Park, Binghamton, New York^[4]
• Electric Park, Blackwell, Oklahoma – pavilion still stands, listed on the National Register of Historic Places
• Electric Park, Cleveland, Ohio^[4]
• Electric Park, Dayton, Ohio^[4]
• Electric Park, Detroit, Michigan (May 26, 1906 – 1928), went through several names in its existence, including Luna Park^[9][10]
• Electric Park, Eau Claire, Wisconsin (1895 – c. 1926) – park adjacent to nearby Lake Hallie; closed after Chippewa Valley Electric Railway ceased operations on September 1, 1926
• Electric Park, Fort Smith, Arkansas (1905–1920)^[11]
• Electric Park, Galveston, Texas (1905–?)
• Electric Park, Hancock, Michigan (June 7, 1906 – c. 1933) – originally Anwebida ("Let us rest here" in Chippewa)^[12][13][14]
• Electric Park, Holland, Michigan, also known as Jenison Electric Park^[15][16]
• Electric Park, Houston, Texas^[17]
• Electric Park, Iola, Kansas (c. 1901–1918),^[18] also known as "Iola Electric Park"
• Electric Park, Joplin, Missouri (June 10, 1909 – 1912)^[19] – now part of Schifferdecker Park
• Electric Park, Kansas City, Missouri (1907–1925) – this second Electric Park by the Heim Brothers, who had opened their first Electric Park in 1899 adjacent to their brewery in the East Bottoms, influenced the budding Kansas City animator Walt Disney's concept for Disneyland^[20][21]
• Electric Park, Louisville, Kentucky,^[4][22][23]
• Electric Park, Montgomery, Alabama^[24]
• Electric Park, New Haven, Connecticut^[3]
• Electric Park, Newark, New Jersey (1903–1912) park that is now the site of Vailsburg Park^[25][26]
• Electric Park, Niagara Falls, New York^[24]
• Electric Park, Niverville, New York, New York(1901–1917),^[27] also known as White City
• Electric Park, Oshkosh, Wisconsin (1898 – c. 1950),^[4] also called White City and EWECO Park
• Electric Park, Pensacola, Florida (1905–?)^[28]
• Electric Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Electric Park, Plainfield, Illinois (1904–1932);^[29] auditorium became a dance hall and then a skating rink (both roller and ice) until destroyed by tornado in 1990^[30]
• Electric Park, Pottsville, Pennsylvania – also called Electric Park Philadelphia^[4]
• Electric Park, St. Louis, Missouri in Creve Coeur Park^[31]
• Electric Park, San Antonio, Texas^[32] - currently the site of Nelson Wolff Stadium
• Electric Park, Sheboygan, Wisconsin^[4]
• Electric Park, Springfield, Missouri^[4] – may be same as Joplin Electric Park
• Electric Park, Syracuse, New York^[4]
• Electric Park, Tulsa, Oklahoma (1921 – c. 1926)- merged into Crystal City Amusement Park in mid 1920s^[33]
• Electric Park, Waterloo, Iowa – had unique water-turned ferris wheel;^[34] pavilion still standing
• Electric Park, Worcester, Massachusetts^[4]

See also

• Tucson Electric Park, baseball stadium in Tucson, Arizona

References

1. "Listing of Stan Kujawa's Electric Park Summer Resort & Amusement Park 1905–1920". Roller Coaster Media Library. Archived from the original on August 4, 2009. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
2. Samuelson, Dale; Samuelson, A.J.P.; Yegoiants, Wendy (2001). The American Amusement Park. MBI Publishing Company. p. 112. ISBN 0-7603-0981-7.
3. Samuelson, Dale; Samuelson, A.J.P.; Yegoiants, Wendy (2001). The American Amusement Park. MBI Publishing Company. pp. 23–24. ISBN 0-7603-0981-7.
4. Samuelson, Dale; Samuelson, A.J.P.; Yegoiants, Wendy (2001). The American Amusement Park. MBI Publishing Company. pp. 23–24. ISBN 0-7603-0981-7.
5. "Wild Ride". Baltimore Style Magazine. July–August 2007. Archived from the original on August 3, 2015. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
6. "Pictures". Kilduffs.com.
7. Rhodes, Jason (2005). Maryland's Amusement Parks. Arcadia. p. 46. ISBN 9780738517957 – via Google Books.
8. Headley, Robert K. (2008). Maryland's Motion Picture Theaters. Arcadia Publishing. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-7385-5384-9.
9. Detroit News. January 6, 2003 http://www.waterwinterwonderland.com/amuse.asp?id=305&type=2.{{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
10. "Archived copy". Detroit News. Archived from the original on July 26, 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
11. Kujawa, Stan (August 25, 2011). Electric Park, Fort Smith, Arkansas. Magcloud. p. 108. Retrieved April 12, 2018. Electric Park was located in a triangle bounded by the streetcar tracks (now Midland Boulevard), Waldron Road (50th Street), and Plum Street.
12. "Appendix: The Copper County Trail"(PDF). Western Upper Peninsula Planning & Development Region. Archived from the original(PDF) on September 29, 2007. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
13. "Electric Park, Houghton". Upper Peninsula Digitization Center Collections.
14. Thurner, Athur W. (1994). Strangers and Sojourners: A History of Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula. Wayne State University Press. p. 15. ISBN 0-8143-2396-0.
15. "Jenison Electric Park recounted". October 14, 2008.
16. "Coaster was Jenison Park amusement". Holland (Michigan) Sentinel. September 19, 2009. Archived from the original on June 14, 2011. Retrieved March 13, 2010.
17. Welling, David; Valenti, Jack (2007). Cinema Houston: From Nickelodeon to Megaplex. University of Texas Press. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-292-71700-8.
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19. "postcards and history". Archived from the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
20. Williams, Pat; Denney, Jim (2004). How to Be Like Walt: Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life. HCI. pp. 27–28. ISBN 0-7573-0231-9.
21. "Kansas City Area History". Kansas City, Missouri Police Officers Memorial. Archived from the original on February 16, 2009. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
22. "Pictures of Electric Park". University of Louisville Library Digital Collections. Archived from the original on April 11, 2012. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
23. "Shoots". Kentuckiana Digital Library. Archived from the original on July 11, 2012.
24. Rabinovitz, Lauren (1998). For the Love of Pleasure: Women, Movies, and Culture in Turn-of-the-Century Chicago. Rutgers University Press. p. 17. ISBN 0-8135-2534-9.
25. Futrell, J. (2004). Amusement Parks of New Jersey. Stackpole Books. p. 30. ISBN 9780811729734. Retrieved October 11, 2014 – via Google Books.
26. Siegel, Alan A. (1995). Smile: a picture history of Olympic Park, 1887–1965. Rutgers University Press. p. 12. ISBN 9780813522555 – via Google Books.
27. "Electric Park Era – Kinderhook Lake".
28. "Abstract: Palmetto Beach: Pensacola's Electric Park". Retrieved June 13, 2025.
29. "Plainfield, Illinois". Encyclopedia of Chicago.
30. "Plainfield history". Plainfield Public Library. Archived from the original on May 9, 2009. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
31. "Hidden World in St. Louis County Parks". Archived from the original on October 18, 2007. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
32. King, David (2004). San Antonio at Bat: Professional Baseball in the Alamo City. Texas A&M University Press. p. 19. ISBN 1-58544-376-X.
33. "Amusement Parks". Oklahoma State University Library: Encyclopedia & Culture.
34. Anderson, Norman D. (1993). Ferris Wheels: an Illustrated History. Popular Press. p. 195. ISBN 0-87972-532-X – via Google Books.