Electric Park was the name shared by two amusement parks in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

, US, that were constructed by Joseph Heim (then president of the Heim Brothers Brewery) and his brothers Michael and Ferdinand Jr. and run by them. The first was built next to the Heim Beer brewery in 1899; the second, a larger one, was built and opened for the public in 1907 and remained in operation until the end of the 1925 season. Animator and entrepreneur

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

cited his fond childhood memories at the second Kansas City Electric Park as the impetus to create

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, ...

, the first modern theme Park.

First park

The Heim brothers built the first Electric Park in land adjacent to the Heim Brothers Brewery (at the time the largest brewery in the world) in East Bottoms. The amusement park was bounded by Montgall, Chestnut, Nicholson, and Rochester Avenues. Open from 1899 to 1906, the first Electric Park proved to be an immediate success as one of the world's first full-time amusement parks. Featuring a

Shoot-the-Chutes Shoot the chute is a water-based amusement ride consisting of a flat-bottomed boat that slides down a ramp or inside a flume into a lagoon. Unlike a log flume, which generally seats up to eight passengers, a modern-day shoot the chute ride g ...

ride (called the Mystic Chute), the park also had a

beer garden A beer garden (German: ''Biergarten'') is an outdoor area in which beer and food are served, typically at shared tables shaded by trees. Beer gardens originated in Bavaria, of which Munich is the capital city, in the 19th century, and remain co ...

with beer piped directly from the brewery next door. Eventually, the carefully groomed grounds were too small to sustain the park's popularity so at the end of the 1906 season some of the rides were dismantled and moved to the new location to the south. Much of the grounds lay neglected or abandoned for the next 19 years. In 1925, part of the plot (near the corner of Montgall and Rochester) was deeded to city of Kansas City for use as a neighborhood

playground A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people wi ...

. Opened in a 1 August 1925 ceremony, the park offered "Pet Night", in which children won prizes for displaying the largest, smallest, and the most deformed dog. Another day saw

swimsuits A swimsuit is an item of clothing designed to be worn by people engaging in a water-based activity or water sports, such as swimming, diving and surfing, or sun-orientated activities, such as sun bathing. Different types and styles may be worn ...

awarded to boys who created

wood carvings Wood carving (or woodcarving) is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ...

from dead trees.

Second park

The second Kansas City

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 ...

, this time at 46th Street and the Paseo, opened 19 May 1907. Like the first one, it was a

trolley park In the United States, trolley parks, which started in the 19th century, were picnic and recreation areas along or at the ends of streetcar lines in most of the larger cities. These were precursors to amusement parks. Trolley parks were often cre ...

(this time served by the

Troost Avenue Troost Avenue is one of the major streets in Kansas City, Missouri and the Kansas City metropolitan area. Its northern terminus is at 4th Street and its southern terminus Bannister Road, totaling . It is named after Kansas City's first resident ...

, Woodland Avenue, and Rockhill lines of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company), At the time, there were a number of unrelated amusement parks in the country named ''Electric Park'', but the second Kansas City park was one of the largest (if not ''the'' largest) "Electric Park". It had "band

concert A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

, Electric Fountain,

ballroom A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called ''balls''. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially histori ...

natatorium A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable swimming and associated activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built above ground (as a ...

German village German Village is a historic neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, just south of the city's downtown. It was settled in the early-to-mid-19th century by a large number of German immigrants, who at one time comprised as much as a third of the city' ...

alligator farm A crocodile farm or alligator farm is an establishment for breeding and raising of crocodilians in order to produce crocodile and alligator meat, leather from crocodile and alligator skin, and other goods. Many species of both alligators a ...

, chutes, Dips Coaster, Norton slide, penny parlors, novelty stand, Japanese rolling ball,

scenic railway Scenic railroad (American English) or Scenic railway (British English) may refer to: * Heritage railways operating leisurely train tours of sights such as mountain scenery, historic areas, and foliage tours * Scenic gravity railroad, early terminol ...

pool Pool may refer to: Bodies of water * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a roc ...

room, a Hale's Tour of the World, Electric Studio, boat tours,

old mill Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...

, a Temple of Mirth, Flying Lady, Double Whirl, Circle Swing, soda fountain and ice cream shops, knife rack, doll rack, shooting gallery,

air gun An air gun or airgun is a gun that uses energy from compressed air or other gases that are mechanically pressurized and then released to propel and accelerate projectiles, similar to the principle of the primitive blowgun. This is in contr ...

gallery, giant teeter,

boating Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether powerboats, sailboats, or man-powered vessels (such as rowing and paddle boats), focused on the travel itself, as well as sports activities, suc ...

, outdoor

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (International English), or galloper (British English) is a type of amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders. The seats are tradit ...

clubhouse Clubhouse may refer to: Locations * The meetinghouse of: ** A club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal ** In the United States, a country club ** In the United Kingdom, a gentlemen's club * A ...

cafe A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargil ...

, Casino 5 cent theater,

fortune telling Fortune telling is the spiritual practice of prediction, predicting information about a person's life.J. Gordon Melton, Melton, J. Gordon. (2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 115–116. The scope of for ...

and

palmistry Palmistry is the pseudoscientific practice of fortune-telling through the study of the palm. Also known as palm reading, chiromancy, chirology or cheirology, the practice is found all over the world, with numerous cultural variations. Those w ...

, covered

promenade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortification, fortress or city walls ...

and horseless buggy garage."

Souvenir A souvenir ( French for 'a remembrance or memory'), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and trans ...

s from the park touted it as "

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

Coney Island Coney Island is a neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach to its east, Lower New York Bay to the south and west, and Gravesend to ...

," which it matched by having 100,000 light bulbs adorn its buildings. By 1911, the second Kansas City Electric Park attracted one million visitors,Monroe Dodd and Daniel Serda, ''The Kansas City Story for Kids'' (Kansas City Star Books 2000) averaging 8000 paying customers per day.Brian Burnes, Dan Viets, and Robert W. Butler, ''Walt Disney's Missouri: The Roots of a Creative Genius'' (Kansas City Star Books 2002) Much of the second park burned to the ground in 1925. The fire was witnessed by a young

Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' from 1962 to 1981. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trust ...

, who later wroteRick Montgomery, Shirl Kasper, Jean Dodd, and Arthur S. Brisbane, ''Kansas City: an American Story'' (Kansas City Star Books 1999) Despite the devastating blaze, the park maintained its operating hours as its theater and its

aquarium An aquarium (: aquariums or aquaria) is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquati ...

remained open for the remainder of its last year. In the final days of 1925, Electric Park inaugurated its Coin Carnival to replace its destroyed midway. The two weeks before its final closing, Electric Park celebrated its own

Mardi Gras Mardi Gras (, ; also known as Shrove Tuesday) is the final day of Carnival (also known as Shrovetide or Fastelavn); it thus falls on the day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. is French for "Fat Tuesday", referring to it being ...

after the Heim family decided to sell the land. On 1 September 1925, a

fireworks Fireworks are Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large numbe ...

exhibition punctuated the park's last closing ceremony.

Walt Disney and the Kansas City Electric Park

After

Elias Disney Elias Charles Disney (February 6, 1859September 13, 1941) was a Canadian-American construction worker and entrepreneur. He was best known as the father of Roy and Walt Disney, co-founders of The Walt Disney Company. Elias was a strict and hard ...

moved his family to Kansas City in 1911, a nine-year-old

Walt Walt is a masculine given name, generally a short form of Walter (name), Walter, and occasionally a surname. Notable people with the name include: People Given name * Walt Anderson (American football) (born 1952), American football official * Walt ...

and his younger sister Ruth became regular visitors to the second Electric Park, which was a mere 15 blocks from their new home at 3028 Bellefontaine Street. While the Kansas City park was inspired by the original White City in the 1893

Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The ce ...

(for which Elias was a construction worker), Walt later took many features of the Kansas City Electric Park (including a train whose track ringed the park grounds and the daily fireworks at closing time) and incorporated them into

when he started developing the plans for the layout of the park that he opened in 1955.Pat Williams and Jim Denney, ''How to Be Like Walt: Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life'' (HCI 2004) Unlike many of its contemporaries, the Electric Park's grounds were meticulously maintained with landscaping designed to accentuate the park's rides and other attractions, a trait that Disney insisted to be maintained in Disneyland. Electric Park's "Living

Statuary A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size. A sculpture ...

"'s electric procession featured young women emerging from a

fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" ( genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. Fountains were o ...

onto a platform while bathed in various colored lights. Disney's entrances featured structures similar in design and structure to that of Electric Park's Monkey Cage

Gazebo A gazebo is a pavilion structure, sometimes octagonal or Gun turret, turret-shaped, often built in a park, garden, or spacious public area. Some are used on occasions as bandstands. In British English, the word is also used for a tent-like can ...

. In fact, most of the attractions that graced Disney's childhood park had similar counterparts in the California park that he opened three decades later.

References

External links

*{{RCDB, 10626 Defunct amusement parks in Missouri Buildings and structures in Kansas City, Missouri 1907 establishments in Missouri 1925 disestablishments in Missouri Amusement parks opened in 1907 Amusement parks closed in 1925

First park

Second park

Walt Disney and the Kansas City Electric Park

See also

References

External links