Fries Park was a park established in Marrtown,

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, in 1892 by Gustavus Louis "Gusty" Fries.

Opening

From a Parkersburg newspaper, May 6, 1893: The appeal was a family operation where people could relax by

picnic A picnic is a meal taken outdoors (Al fresco dining, ''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 su ...

king and enjoying

square dance A square dance is a dance for four couples, or eight dancers in total, arranged in a square, with one couple on each side, facing the middle of the square. Square dances are part of a broad spectrum of dances known by various names: country dan ...

s and round dances like the

polka Polka is a dance style and genre of dance music in originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though generally associated with Czech and Central European culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the ...

and

schottische The schottische is a partnered country dance that apparently originated in Bohemia. It was popular in Victorian-era ballrooms as a part of the Bohemian folk-dance craze and left its traces in folk music of countries such as Argentina (Spanish ...

in the park's dance pavilion. Fresh

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" in Greek language, Greek), which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen#Arthropoda, abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the Thorax (arthropo ...

s were brought in by train from

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

, and

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

was provided by the Hebrank & Rapp Lager Beer Brewery, the first brewery in the Mid-Ohio Valley. (Louis Hebrank was Fries’s father-in-law, as he had married Hebrank's daughter, Katherine, in 1890.)

Amenities, events, and scandal

The park contained 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 ...

, a

concession stand A concession stand, or refreshment stand (American English, Canadian English), snack kiosk or snack bar (British English, Irish English) is a place where patrons can purchase snacks or food at a cinema, amusement park, zoo, aquarium, circus, f ...

where visitors could buy sandwiches and drinks, and a bowling alley, where visitors played duckpins or skittles, using wooden balls. Some exciting

stag A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) a ...

events, such as beer and crab parties were staged there in the park's early days. Other activities included professional boxing matches, which led to the park’s greatest tragedy. On June 29, 1899, a boxing match was held at the park between Kid Wanko and Felix Carr. Weighing in at 151 pounds, it was a twenty-round contest, "for points only". In the fifth round, Carr received a blow to the side of the head and fell to the canvas; the fight was over. Though he was able to stand and receive condolences from his opponent, he soon collapsed again. He died the next morning; Kid Wanko was charged with murder. Following an autopsy, it was determined that Carr had several health problems that contributed to his death. The charges against Kid Wanko were dropped.

Closure

Fries Park prospered until increasing use of the automobile made the public more mobile and longing for new sights. The appeal of small local picnic parks decreased, making Fries Park a less profitable concern. It closed in 1939, four years before the death of Gusty Fries. The main building at the park, the dance hall, was transformed into a house by Fries’s grandson, Lewis V. Moyers. The house changed hands several times, and was eventually dismantled. The only remains of the park is a now dry

cistern A cistern (; , ; ) is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. To prevent leakage, the interior of the cistern is often lined with hydraulic plaster. Cisterns are disti ...

and the ruins of a bomb shelter built in 1962 in response to the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis () in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of Nuclear weapons d ...

. Its memory has lingered on, however, as one of the area's favorite leisure-time places.

References

{{coord missing, West Virginia 1892 establishments in West Virginia 1939 disestablishments in West Virginia Municipal parks in West Virginia Parkersburg, West Virginia Protected areas established in 1892 Protected areas of Wood County, West Virginia