Pennsylvania’s amusement parks helped public ride out Depression
Folks growing up in Butler – really, any Western Pennsylvania city or town – likely have an amusement park memory they’ll never forget. Careening down the final drop on the Comet roller coaster at Cascade Park. Your annual school picnic at Kennywood, the start of summer vacation. Meeting the love of your life at West View Park’s Danceland.
A beloved part of American culture since the 19th century, these and many other amusement parks are fondly remembered as community gathering places where generations of people of different heritage and experience enjoy outdoor thrills, recreation and entertainment.
In Pennsylvania, the amusement parks that navigated the aftermath of the Great Depression and changing leisure and transportation habits provided a respite for people and families who could afford a day of play at any one of dozens of parks, including those in Butler County and the Western Pennsylvania region. While only a handful of amusement parks operate in Pennsylvania today, a century ago practically every community across the commonwealth could reach one by rail or automobile, and they enjoyed these commercial playgrounds in times of both prosperity and hardship.
An industry that traces its origins back to 16th century European pleasure gardens, amusement parks by the turn of the 20th century began populating the American landscape, primarily along growing transportation systems – first railroads and then electric streetcar lines – to boost ridership (and profits) on the evenings and weekends. Innovations in technology and commercial leisure displayed at venues like the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago transformed scenic picnic groves with simple attractions like a boating lake, dance hall and steam-powered carousel into evolved amusement complexes offering mechanical marvels such as the roller coaster and Ferris wheel, plus dazzling electric lights, midway concessions and live entertainment.
Pennsylvania was at the forefront of the post-Civil War golden age of the amusement park (1890s through the 1920s). The Keystone State reportedly had more operating streetcar companies than any other in the country, and they saw business opportunities in creating recreation destinations along their lines. Pennsylvania also claimed pioneering amusement ride engineers and manufacturers who led the way in roller coaster, carousel and flat ride designs. A growing market for commercial pleasure could also be found in the southern and eastern European immigrant population working in the coal, coke, steel, glass, manufacturing and other industries that flourished in Pennsylvania by the late 19th century.
Alameda Park, a prototypical “trolley park” opened in 1901 about 2 miles from the city of Butler, was owned and operated by a local electric traction company. The Butler Passenger Railway Company built “The Park of a Thousand Trees” in a valley with hills covered by oaks, wildflowers, walking paths and natural springs, inspiring its Spanish name that means a public walkway or promenade shaded by trees.
Parkgoers could attend moonlight soirees at a large dancing pavilion overlooking a man-made lake, be entertained by outdoor motion pictures and summer theater shows, or enjoy rides on the park’s Ferris wheel, E. Joy Morris menagerie carousel and Figure Eight roller coaster. Like other Pennsylvania amusement parks, a variety of groups hosted outings at Alameda Park, from companies, churches and schools to social clubs, family reunions and even the Ku Klux Klan.
Alameda Park is representative of the dozens of amusement parks that sprung up along transit routes throughout Pennsylvania. Other well-patronized trolley parks include the still-operating Kennywood Park in West Mifflin, Erie’s Waldameer Park and Allentown’s Dorney Park, but also numerous long-lost parks such as Cascade Park in New Castle, Olympia Park near McKeesport, Monarch Park near Oil City, Edgewood Park in Shamokin, Lenape Park in West Chester, Rocky Glen Park in Moosic, Willow Grove Park in Willow Grove and Woodside Park in Philadelphia.
By the 1930s, however, many once-popular amusement parks in Pennsylvania and across the country had already shuttered or would soon close during the Great Depression, not just because of the economic turmoil but also because transportation was yet again evolving. What replaced the interurban streetcar and the passenger train were the personal automobile and the open highway. Park attendance dropped and traction companies began to fold, along with the amusement destinations they served. Alameda Park was one of the casualties; the Butler Passenger Railway Company disbanded and sold the park to the Church of the Nazarene in 1944 to be used as a summer camp.
However, some Pennsylvania amusement parks that survived the Depression thrived by making capital improvements and adding new rides and other attractions. One example is Idlewild Park in Ligonier, which transitioned from a picnic park on the Mellon family-owned Ligonier Valley Rail Road into a traditional amusement park when a new management company led by the Macdonald family began steering the park’s course in 1931. Immediate ride and swimming pool additions, infrastructure and landscaping upgrades, plus a regular free act schedule paid off during a period of financial uncertainty, as the park continued to bring in group business. Today, Idlewild claims the distinction of Pennsylvania’s oldest operating amusement park and third oldest in the country.
Despite the economic recession and high unemployment in the 1930s, the public continued to spend money at amusement parks, theaters, sporting events and travel, perhaps to escape the “Depression blues.” Newspapers across the state reported large crowds at Pennsylvania parks, particularly during Fourth of July and Labor Day holidays, and even record seasonal attendance.
A second wave of new amusement parks also began to appear across Pennsylvania by the late 1920s through the 1930s, including another longtime Butler County summertime oasis: Stoughton’s Beach in Slippery Rock. A massive, heated swimming pool was the centerpiece of the park that was established in 1932 on part of Saul Stoughton’s farm along Slippery Rock Creek. The Stoughton’s Beach carousel, roller skating rink, dance hall and penny arcade were available to nearby seasonal cottage renters. Following one ownership change, the park’s name changed too, operating as Rock Falls Park until the amusement park proper closed around 1975.
As it recovered from the Depression, the amusement park industry in Pennsylvania and across the nation further evolved with the advent of World War II. Following park closures (temporary and permanent), rationing and travel restrictions, the country saw a post-war trend of kiddieland and storybook parks plus a growing regional theme park movement toward more corporate park ownership compared to family-run operations. More recently, the industry continues to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over time, the number of amusement parks in Pennsylvania dwindled far from the dozens that once delighted generations of families and communities. Even in recent years, ownership changes and financial difficulties have ravaged two of the state’s historic amusement parks: Conneaut Lake Park in Crawford County and Lakemont Park in Altoona, the home of the world’s oldest roller coaster, Leap the Dips.
Pennsylvania still offers several operating amusement parks where memories can be made, including Idlewild and SoakZone in Ligonier, Kennywood Park in West Mifflin, Waldameer and Water World in Erie, Delgrosso’s Park and Laguna Splash in Tipton, Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, Hersheypark in Hershey, Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom in Allentown, Bushkill Park in Easton and Sesame Place in Philadelphia.
Organizations like the National Amusement Park Historical Association and local and regional historical societies across Pennsylvania also preserve and celebrate the history of defunct amusement parks, such as Alameda Park. Now a 400-plus-acre public park maintained by Butler County Parks and Recreation, Alameda Park remains a peaceful place to hike, bike, picnic and play, much in the same spirit as families and communities did a century ago.
Jennifer Sopko is a Pittsburgh-based writer and historian with a love of local history, especially amusement parks. She is the author of “Idlewild: History and Memories of Pennsylvania’s Oldest Amusement Park” and her next book will cover lost amusement parks across Western Pennsylvania. Jennifer is a longtime freelance reporter for the Latrobe Bulletin and editor of Westmoreland History magazine. She also serves as recording secretary for the National Amusement Park Historical Association, among other historical affiliations. Reach her at www.jennifersopko.com.
