Luna Park 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 ...

in the North Oakland neighborhood of the city of

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, USA, from 1905 to 1909.Luna Park's luminary: Entrepreneur/roller coaster designer deserves his due
- ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of the All ...

'', 1 September 2008 Constructed and owned by

Frederick Ingersoll Frederick Ingersoll (1876 – October 23, 1927) was an American inventor, designer, builder and entrepreneur who created the world's first chain of amusement parks (known collectively as "Luna Parks" regardless of their actual name) and whose man ...

, the park occupied a 16 acre hilly site bounded on the south by Atlantic Avenue (now Baum Boulevard) and on the west by North Craig Street, and included

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 ...

picnic A picnic is a meal taken outdoors ( ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event such as preceding ...

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (List of sovereign states, international), roundabout (British English), or hurdy-gurdy (an old term in Australian English, in South Australia, SA) is a type of amusement ...

s, a

fun house A funhouse or fun house is an amusement facility found on amusement park and funfair midways and is where patrons encounter and interact with various devices designed to surprise, challenge, and amuse them. Unlike thrill rides or dark rides, fu ...

, 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 ...

, a

roller rink A roller rink is a hard surface usually consisting of hardwood or concrete, used for roller skating or inline skating. This includes roller hockey, speed skating, roller derby, and individual recreational skating. Roller rinks can be located i ...

, a

shoot-the-chutes Shoot the Chute is an amusement ride consisting of a flat-bottomed boat that slides down a ramp or inside a flume into a lagoon. Unlike a log flume or super flume, which generally seats up to eight passengers, a modern-day Shoot the Chute ride ge ...

ride, a

concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety a ...

shell, a

dance hall Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for Dance, dancing. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or nightclub. The majority of towns and citi ...

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 ...

, and a

baby incubator A neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), also known as an intensive care nursery (ICN), is an intensive care unit (ICU) specializing in the care of ill or premature newborn infants. Neonatal refers to the first 28 days of life. Neonatal care, as kn ...

exhibit. In its brief existence, the park featured regular performances of bands,

acrobat Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in acro ...

ic acts, animal acts, horse riders, and aerial acts.Jim Futrell, ''Amusement Parks of Pennsylvania'' (Flagpole Books, 2002) Pittsburgh's Luna Park was the first Ingersoll park of that name (out of 44) (

Luna Park, Cleveland Luna Park was a trolley park (a type of amusement park) in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, from 1905 to 1929. Specifications Constructed by Frederick Ingersoll, the park occupied a hilly site bounded by Woodland Avenue, Woodhill, Mt. Carmel (origin ...

, also owned and built by Ingersoll, opened soon afterward), and the first amusement park to be covered with electrical lighting (67,000 light bulbs). The park cost $375,000 to construct; re-creating it from scratch would cost approximately $8.5 million. The Pittsburgh and (the similar) Cleveland Luna Parks were the beginnings of the world's first amusement park chain: by 1929 (the year of Ingersoll's death), 44 Luna Parks were constructed around the world. Remnants of the entertainment empire remain, from

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

(the park is now called Luna Loca) to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

(now called Ta Aidonakia). The cost of upgrading and maintaining his amusement parks proved too much for Ingersoll as he was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1908. Several of the Luna Parks were sold to others; Pittsburgh's park was closed in 1909 in the face of competition of a second

trolley park Trolley may refer to: Vehicles and components * Tram, or trolley or streetcar, a rail vehicle that runs on tramway tracks * Trolleybus, or trolley, an electric bus drawing power from overhead wires using trolley poles ** Trolleytruck, a trolleyb ...

nearby, the older (and still-existing)

Kennywood Park Kennywood is an amusement park located in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, just southeast of Pittsburgh. The park opened on May 30, 1899, as a trolley park attraction at the end of the Mellon family's Monongahela Street Railway. It was purchased in 1 ...

. When Kennywood expanded its fairgrounds in 1995, its new Lost Kennywood section was patterned after its former competitor,History of Kennywood Park
centered on a shoot-the-chutes ride and having a one-third-scale replica of the Luna Park entrance as a "gateway" to the park, including an era-appropriate spelling of "Pittsburg". Aside from the aforementioned tribute from Kennywood, no other remnants exist to the existence of Luna Park, including a lack of historical markers. The site itself is currently a mixed-use property with both residential and commercial businesses.

References

{{Authority control Event venues established in 1905 Amusement parks in Pennsylvania Buildings and structures in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania 1905 establishments in Pennsylvania 1909 disestablishments in Pennsylvania Defunct amusement parks in Pennsylvania History of Pittsburgh