Dodge Park Playland was an

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

formerly located at

Council Bluffs, Iowa Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. The city is the most populous in Southwest Iowa, and is the third largest and a primary city of the Omaha–Council Bluffs ...

, 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.

,2,3,4 The comma is a punctuation mark that appears in several variants in different languages. It has the same shape as an apostrophe or single closing quotation mark () in many typefaces, but it differs from them in being placed on the baseline ...

It was also known as Playland Speedway and aerial images exist of the park and track.

History

The Playland Speedway was originally a

dog racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

track formed in 1941, but was shut down in 1943. The dog-racing track was operated by

Meyer Lansky Meyer Lansky (born Maier Suchowljansky; July 4, 1902 – January 15, 1983), known as the "Mob's Accountant", was an American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the ...

. In 1947, the track was rebuilt as a dirt track and in 1948 Abe and Louis Slusky brought an amusement park to the grounds. The ''Dodge Park Playland'' operated until 1970 when Abe Slusky died of a heart attack and the rides were moved to

Frontier City Frontier City is a western-themed amusement park in Oklahoma City. It is owned by EPR and operated by Six Flags. The park originally opened in 1958. Frontier City is the third-oldest Six Flags park behind Six Flags New England and Six Flags Grea ...

, another amusement park owned by the brothers. The racetrack continued until 1977, when it was shut down. The area is now parkland and the eastern entrance to the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge.

References

{{Reflist3. https://www.playlandspeedway.com/ 4. http://www.speedwayandroadracehistory.com/playland-speedway.html 5. https://www.pinterest.dk/pin/317011261270256312/ Defunct amusement parks in the United States Amusement parks in Iowa 1948 establishments in Iowa 1970 disestablishments in Iowa Amusement parks opened in 1948 Amusement parks closed in 1970