AMAZING
LUNA PARK PHOTOS
Almost
everyone has seen the postcard photo below of the entrance to Luna
Park, but scroll down for a real treat!
|
Frederick
Ingersoll (1876-1927) was an inventor, designer, and builder who
created the world's first chain of amusement parks (known collectively
as "Luna Parks" regardless of their actual name) and whose
manufacturing company built 277 roller coasters, fueling the popularity
of trolley parks in the first third of the Twentieth Century.
Charleston's Luna Park was just one of Ingersoll's designs.
Ingersoll
was born in New Jersey, one of five brothers. By 1900, he had moved to
Glenfield, Pennsylvania, a community on the Ohio River near Pittsburgh.
Ingersoll
committed suicide in Omaha, Nebraska, on 23 October 1927. In 1929,
former roller coaster designer of Ingersoll Construction, John A.
Miller, eulogized him by stating, "We owe all the success of the
amusement park to Fred Ingersoll. Locally,
John Crowley and the Crowley Brothers owned Luna Park . (they also
built the Holly Hotel on their home property, among other businesses)
Later, they sold it to Sam Moore (Moores Book Store)
|
FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME,
HERE ARE LARGE SCALE PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE INTERIOR
OF LUNA PARK!
I have been searching
for interior shots of Luna park for 35 years. These finally
surfaced a few years ago.
| This amazing photo was taken circa 1914 at
Charleston's Luna Park. There appears to be a 4th of July
celebration going on, with many dignitaries (possibly the
Governor) and some folks dressed up as clowns and
entertainers. You can see many things in this photo: A
Budweiser Beer sign, an Eskimo Pie concession, a
Root Beer stand, roller rink, and the famous "Royal
Giant Dips Roller Coaster" for only 10 cents a ride. Luna
Park opened in 1912 and burned to the ground in 1923 and never re
opened. It was built on the site of a 3 hole golf course. As
a real treat, I have uploaded this photo very large so that you can see
it better. Be aware that it is about 1 meg in size,
so you'd better have high-speed internet.... |
See the very large photo here!
( After the photo loads, click on
it to make it much larger. Click your "Back" button to return
)
MORE
LUNA PARK PHOTOS
These
characters were part of the festivities in the second photo.
It's no wonder many kids were afraid of clowns!
| You're
looking at a VERY rare photo of the Luna Park pool.
The
information that I attached to the photo came from an old WV Health
Dept book that describes every swimming pool in the state at that
time. It says that the Luna Park pool was constructed of
"Lumber
& Tin Sheet". The pool held 200,000 gallons of
water,
and it's size was 45 feet wide by 100 feet long. The shallow
end
was 3 feet deep while the deep end was 8 feet. The water was
supplied by the city and was chlorinated (at a time when Typhoid was
rampant). It was this pool believe it or not that caught fire
which set the rest of the park ablaze, ending the parks life.
However, in 1924 and in 1925 water was so high in the Kanawha
River, it covered this property with ten feet of water, so it wouldnt
have lasted much longer anyway. |
Another park entrance.
Back in the day there were creeks and gullys that needed bridges in
order to access Luna Park.
Here you can see the different terrain, that today is perfectly all flat.
ABOUT THE LOCATION:
| People today often wonder why the streets in the
area of Park Ave near the Boulevard are so crooked since all of the
surrounding streets are so straight. Luna Park is the
reason! Those streets follow the old Luna Park walking
paths. The entrance to Luna Park was on Park Ave., while he
park was bounded by Park and Glenwood Ave's, Park
Street, Grant Street and the river. |
This graphic shows the exact layout of Luna Park
|
Luna
Park was an amusement park in Charleston, that was open to the public
from 1912 until 1923. Located on the western side of Charleston on the
north bank of the Kanawha River, the park was a popular destination
that featured a roller coaster, a dance pavilion, a public swimming
pool, a roller rink, and live entertainment. Admission to the park cost
15 cents per person; a ride on the Royal Giant Dips roller coaster cost
one dime per trip. It was a trolley park served by the Charleston
Interurban Railroad Company.
The
primary attraction at Luna Park was the 45-foot-by-100-foot community
swimming pool, which held an estimated 200,000 gallons of water. Unlike
most pools of that size, the Luna Park pool was not made of concrete
but of “lumber and tin sheet,” according to a report by the state
Department of Health. A local newspaper reported in 1913 that 15,000
visited the park in the afternoon, followed by an evening crowd of
about 16,000; street cars were carrying passengers to and from the park
at a rate of about 1200 an hour. Others arrived by steamboat.
In May 1923, the Royal Giant Dips caught fire and was destroyed along
with most of the park. Despite attempts by ownership to raise the money
to rebuild Luna Park, it was never resurrected. Eventually, single
family housing was constructed on the park grounds.
|
The Luna park Roller Rink
One of the few known personal photos taken in the park of the roller coaster.Photo courtesy of Sherry Hill
TO LEARN MORE
ABOUT THE FATE OF LUNA PARK, CLICK HERE.
|
ONE FINAL NOTE:
After the park burned down, the company that owned the land offered it
to the city for use as a park, but city leaders refused, citing
maintenance costs. This would be one of two times that land was
donated to Charleston for a public park. In both cases, the city turned
down the free land. This is why even today, Charleston is one of the
largest cities in the state without a public park, and is a blight on
its former leadership.
|
I
hope you've enjoyed this opportunity to view these very rare photos.
©
COPYRIGHT
All
content including articles and photos on this website Copyright 2013 by
J. Waters. All images on this website are used with
permission or
outright ownership of J. Waters.
All newspaper articles
are courtesy of the Charleston Gazette or Daily Mail for the express
use of the author. You do NOT have permission to use any image, article
or material without permission from the author. You do NOT have permission to pull photos from this website and post them to Facebook or any other website. Any
material used without permission will be subject to creative copyright
laws. |
|
