Bay Beach is a municipal amusement park in

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...

. Situated near the mouth of the Fox River, on the east bank as it flows into Green Bay, the park contains rides, concessions, a

roller coaster A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are o ...

, and a food pavilion. Dances, movies, and other events are held in a pavilion. The park is adjacent to the

Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary The Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary is a 600-acre municipal urban wildlife refuge. It is the largest park in the Green Bay, Wisconsin Park system and home to the second largest wildlife rehabilitation program in Wisconsin. Facilities include a natur ...

History

The park's history dates to the 1890s when entrepreneur Mitchell Nejedlo purchased the land. Originally intended to be divided and sold for summer cottages, he turned it into Bay View Beach. Bay View Beach had a dance hall, a bar, and a bathhouse, however, because it was swampy and infested with mosquitoes, the park didn't attract many visitors. In 1908 Captain John Cusick bought the resort from Nejedlo. Cusick built an 8-foot dock that extended 570 feet into the bay, then bought a steamboat to transport customers from Walnut Street Bridge to Bay View Beach. When swimming became popular, Cusick began renting swimsuits for $0.10. On a good day, he could bring in as much as $450. In 1901 a roller coaster was built. Then in 1908, Cusick built a ride called "Shoot the Chutes", a flat-bottomed boat that could hold 12 people. The boat was slid down a 50-foot ramp and onto the water. The ride cost $0.10. In 1911 Bay View Beach was sold to Frank Emery Murphy, born 1862 (Green Bay Alderman, corporate executive of Murphy Lumber, Murphy Supply, Morley - Murphy Company, and owner of the prestigious Horse Shoe Bay Farms in Door County, Wisconsin) and Fred A. Rahr born 1863, (Green Bay Alderman, operator of Rahr's Brewing Company, Treasurer of the Green Bay Volunteer Fire Department when it was organized in 1887). In 1920 they donated the 11 acres, along with all its buildings and attractions, to the city of Green Bay to be used as a City Park, Called Bay Beach Park. From the site's earliest days as a private park, a public beach was available, but pollution of the bay eventually caused the swimming beach to close. From the 1930s to the early 1970s, Bay Beach's pavilion hosted concerts, political rallies, dances, Fourth of July fireworks, and other events. On August 9, 1934, President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

visited Bay Beach in celebration of Green Bay's tercentennial of the landing of French explorer

Jean Nicolet Jean Nicolet (Nicollet), Sieur de Belleborne (October 1642) was a French '' coureur des bois'' noted for exploring Lake Michigan, Mackinac Island, Green Bay, and being the first European to set foot in what is now the U.S. state of Wisconsin. ...

in 1634. Today the park is a family place, with scenic views and rides for children, including

bumper cars Bumper cars or dodgems are the generic names for a type of flat amusement ride consisting of multiple small electrically powered cars which draw power from the floor and/or ceiling, and which are turned on and off remotely by an operator. Bumpe ...

, two small-scale passenger train rides, a large slide, and a

Ferris wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a Giant Wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondolas, capsules ...

Upgrades

In 2006, of land west of the Bay Beach boundary was purchased to upgrade and expand the park. Plans include tearing down and replacing the original Ferris wheel, replacing the Scat with a new ride, and expanding the train tracks to circle the enlarged acreage. On March 2, 2010, the city of Green Bay approved the purchase of the nearly century-old

Zippin Pippin The Zippin Pippin is one of the oldest existing wooden roller coasters in the United States. It was initially constructed in the former East End Park in Memphis, Tennessee, in either 1912, 1915, or 1917 by John A. Miller and Harry C. Baker of Nati ...

wooden roller coaster from

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, where it had sat derelict for five years. A groundbreaking took place on August 25, 2010, and construction on the Zippin Pippin began in September 2010. Construction was completed in April 2011 and the Zippin Pippin is now open. In early 2013, a Bay Beach Master Plan was proposed. Phase 1 of the plan is broken into five two-year segments. The first is the addition of the Sea Dragon ride and expanding the train track to loop under the Zippin Pippin by 2015. Narrow gauged trains and 3 cars modeled after those at the Milwaukee zoo were donated in 2014, with +3000 feet of track operating for the 2015 season. For phase 2, in 2017 and 2018, two more rides are scheduled to arrive at the park.WLUK Fox 11 New
"Council to vote on Bay Beach master plan"
/ref> In 2017 the Falling Star Ride was introduced. In 2019 a 100 feet tall Ferris wheel opened. The best place to be. lots of fun! Come with your family, friends,and relatives.

Rides

Roller coaster

Thrill rides

Family rides

Kiddie rides

Former Rides

Images

File:BayBeachBumperCarBuildingGreenBayWisconsin.jpg, Bumper car building File:BayBeachSkatGreenBayWisconsin.jpg, The Scat ride File:baybeach.jpg, View from the top of the Ferris wheel

References

External links

Park Map
* *{{RCDB, 5340 Amusement parks in Wisconsin Culture of Green Bay, Wisconsin 1892 establishments in Wisconsin Buildings and structures in Green Bay, Wisconsin Tourist attractions in Brown County, Wisconsin