Rockaways' Playland was an

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

that operated from 1902 to 1987 in Rockaway Beach in

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Bounded by Beach 97th and Beach 98th Streets between

Rockaway Beach Boulevard Rockaway Beach Boulevard, opened in 1886, was the first major east-west thoroughfare on the Rockaway Peninsula in the Borough of Queens in New York City. Much of its route parallels the Rockaway Freeway and the IND Rockaway Line above the Fre ...

and the

Rockaway Beach and Boardwalk The Rockaway Beach and Boardwalk is a public park in Rockaway, Queens, New York, composed of the Rockaway Beach and the adjacent Rockaway Boardwalk. The beach runs from Beach 9th Street in Far Rockaway to Beach 149th Street in Neponsit, a di ...

, Rockaways' Playland was created in 1902 by roller coaster designer

LaMarcus Adna Thompson LaMarcus Adna Thompson (March 8, 1848 – May 8, 1919) was an American inventor and businessman most famous for developing a variety of gravity rides and roller coasters. Early years Thompson was born in Jersey, Licking County, Ohio on March ...

. By 1903 a ferry dock was added not far from the park, making it more convenient to reach (from just about everywhere in New York City) than some of the competing amusement parks. The park was sold in 1927 to Robert Katlin, who added amenities such as a gym and swimming pool, and the following year to A. Joseph Geist, who achieved greater success than the previous owners. Between 1928 and 1970, Rockaways' Playland was extremely successful, drawing 175 million visitors. It closed in 1987 due to a sharp increase in the price of insurance.

History

Thompson's Amusement Park

The park site was originally developed as a resort area in 1876 by William Wainwright. In 1900, George Tilyou, owner of

Steeplechase Park Steeplechase Park was an amusement park that operated in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City, United States, from 1897 to 1964. Steeplechase Park was created by the entrepreneur George C. Tilyou as the first of the three ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

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 ...

, purchased land in the Seaside neighborhood along Rockaway Beach. He called the plot "Steeplechase Park". Within a year, Tilyou offered to sell to

, a roller coaster designer who had been nearly bankrupted when the

assassination of William McKinley William McKinley, the 25th president of the United States, was shot on the grounds of the Pan-American Exposition in the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York, on September 6, 1901, six months into his second term. He was shaking hands with th ...

prevented him from showing his Switchback Railway at the 1901

Pan-American Exposition The Pan-American Exposition was a world's fair held in Buffalo, New York, United States, from May 1 through November 2, 1901. The fair occupied of land on the western edge of what is now Delaware Park–Front Park System, Delaware Park, extending ...

. Still, Thompson managed to buy the property by 1901 and begin construction on an amusement park. Thompson's Amusement Park is variously said to have opened in 1901, 1902, or 1903, on land that extended to the Rockaway Beach and Boardwalk. In 1903, a ferry dock was built adjacent to the park, enabling visitors from other

boroughs A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

to visit it or one of the other several amusement districts along the beach and boardwalk. By 1905, Thompson was operating the amusement park by himself. After Thompson died in 1919, his family operated the park until they sold it to a syndicate led by Robert Katlin in December 1927. Katlin opened several facilities and amusements including a new arena, gymnasium, and swimming pool.

Geist operation

In January 1928, the park was purchased by A. Joseph Geist, a Queens lawyer and businessman who would go on to serve as the president of the Rockaways

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to a ...

and on the Board of Higher Education. Renaming it Rockaways' Playland, Geist soon launched an expansion project that added a

dance hall Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for Dance, dancing, but usually refers to a specific type of twentieth-century venue, with dance clubs (nightclubs) becoming more popular towards the end of the century. The palais de danse was a term ap ...

menagerie A menagerie is a collection of captive animals, frequently exotic, kept for display; or the place where such a collection is kept, a precursor to the modern zoo or zoological garden. The term was first used in 17th-century France, referring to ...

, and

roller coaster A roller coaster is a type of list of amusement rides, amusement ride employing a form of elevated Railway track, railroad track that carries passengers on a roller coaster train, train through tight turns, steep slopes, and other elements, usua ...

. He added numerous attractions in the early 1930s, and by 1936, he was advertising that the park contained 24 distinct attractions. New York City parks commissioner

Robert Moses Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid-20th century. Moses is regarded as one of the most powerful and influentia ...

shut the amusement area in 1937, as he intended to build the

Shore Front Parkway Shore Front Parkway is a beachfront road paralleling the Rockaway Beach and Boardwalk in the New York City borough of Queens, running between Beach 73rd Street and Beach 108th Street. The parkway opened in 1939 after parks commissioner Robert M ...

through the area. A waterfront stretch measuring by was condemned, and Geist lost half of his rides. Moses had also destroyed the nearby bungalows in an unsuccessful attempt to shut down Playland. Following a rebuilding program costing between $3 million and $5 million, Geist reopened Playland in 1939. Playland saw attendance decrease during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. A wartime blackout was applied to the area, which mandated that the park's lights be shut off to avoid enemy detection; the blackout was lifted in August 1945. More attractions, including a kiddie park named Joytown, were added in 1949, followed by the installation of new lighting systems the following year under a $1 million modernization program. Visitors continued to arrive from various places in the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also called the Tri-State area and sometimes referred to as Greater New York, is the List of cities by GDP, largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a List of U.S. metropolitan areas by GDP, gross metropo ...

such as

Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...

, and

Yonkers Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...

. Boats to

Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn Sheepshead Bay is a neighborhood in southern Brooklyn, New York City. It is bounded by Ocean Parkway to the west; Avenue T and Kings Highway to the north; Nostrand Avenue and Gerritsen Avenue to the east; and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. ...

would start operating in 1954, followed by another ferry service to Westchester in 1964. Throughout the 1950s, Playland hosted numerous events and special occasions. One ''New York Times'' article in 1953 described how six hundred orphans were taken to Playland. When Geist died in 1960, his son Richard took over the park and added numerous contests, such as beauty pageants every Monday evening and children's contests each Saturday afternoon. Playland saw a small attendance decrease during the

1964 New York World's Fair The 1964 New York World's Fair (also known as the 1964–1965 New York World's Fair) was an world's fair, international exposition at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, United States. The fair included exhibitions, activ ...

, hosted in nearby

Flushing Meadows–Corona Park Flushing Meadows–Corona Park (often referred to as Flushing Meadows Park or simply Flushing Meadows or Corona Park) is a public park in the northern part of Queens in New York City, New York, U.S. It is bounded by Interstate 678 (New York), ...

, though attendance quickly returned to normal levels after the fair. By 1970, Playland had attracted 175 million visitors in the years since A. Joseph Geist had purchased the park. Attendance began to decline in the late 1970s as the rides became more dated. Beach 98th Street-Playland Sign

The 1985 season was the last operating season for Playland, though at the time, Richard Geist did not intend for the park to close permanently. The following year,

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...

premiums increased eightfold, from $50,000 in 1985 to $408,000 in 1986. At that time, Geist decided not to reopen the park. Upon Playland's closure, a housing development was planned on Playland's site. The land was still vacant in 1995. While the site was developed by 2003, the Beach 98th Street station of the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...

still bore the name "Playland".

Attractions

At its opening, Thompson's Amusement Park included a

steeplechase SteepleChase Records is a jazz record company and label based in Copenhagen, Denmark. SteepleChase was founded in 1972 by Nils Winther, who was a student at Copenhagen University at the time. He began recording concerts at Jazzhus Montmartre, ...

-style ride, where patrons would race along a track on horse-shaped vehicles, as well as a bathhouse on the boardwalk. The park also included a midway with a

funhouse A funhouse or fun house is an attraction found in amusement parks and funfair midways, equipped with various devices designed to surprise, challenge, or amuse visitors. Unlike thrill rides or dark rides, fun houses are participatory attractio ...

Skee-Ball Skee-Ball is an arcade game and one of the first redemption games. It is played by rolling a ball up an inclined lane and over a "ball-hop" hump (resembling a ski jump) that jumps the ball into bullseye rings. The object of the game is to col ...

ramp, and shooting gallery when it opened. The first

in the park was added in 1924 and was called the Gravity Wonder. A "tent city" with cabanas was located on the northern part of Thompson's Amusement Park. In 1928, a

Olympic-size swimming pool An Olympic-size swimming pool is a swimming pool which conforms to the regulations for length, breadth, and depth made by World Aquatics (formerly FINA) for swimming at the Summer Olympics and the swimming events at the World Aquatics Champions ...

was added to Playland, being used for Summer Olympic tryouts. An 8,000-seat arena was also added; before being torn down in 1930, it was used for

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

es, as well as for church services on Sundays and for

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

matches on Fridays. A dance hall, gymnasium, and menagerie, were also added, and a 5,500-locker bathhouse was built. In 1930 Geist added a Noah's Ark style attraction, with a setting resembling

Mount Ararat Mount Ararat, also known as Masis or Mount Ağrı, is a snow-capped and dormant compound volcano in Eastern Turkey, easternmost Turkey. It consists of two major volcanic cones: Greater Ararat and Little Ararat. Greater Ararat is the highest p ...

, on the arena's site. The ark was a walk-through exhibit that featured "the sounds of rain, thunder, and Noah giving orders". Other additions in the early 1930s included

flat ride Amusement rides, sometimes called carnival rides, are mechanical devices or structures that move people to create fun and enjoyment. Rides are often perceived by many as being scary or more dangerous than they actually are. This could be due to ...

s such as the Rig-a-Jig, Leaping Lena, Cave O'Laffs, and the Pretzel. A

wooden roller coaster A wooden roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its wooden track, which consists of running rails made of flat steel strips mounted on laminated wood. The support structure is also typically made of wood, but may also be ...

called the Atom Smasher was added in 1938. Designed by Vernon Keenan, it measured long and had a maximum height of .

In popular culture

The Atom Smasher was featured in the 1952 film ''

This Is Cinerama ''This Is Cinerama'' is a 1952 American documentary film directed by Mike Todd, Michael Todd Jr., Walter A. Thompson and Fred Rickey and starring Lowell Thomas.

''. The release of ''This Is Cinerama'' and its popularity and positive reception brought thousands of visitors to Playland. Playland was also shown in the 1982 movie '' Sophie's Choice''.

References

Citations Sources * *

External links

Playland photos

1980 aerial view of Playland
* {{coord, 40, 35, 02, N, 73, 49, 07, W, display=title Defunct amusement parks in New York (state) Parks in Queens, New York Rockaway, Queens