Riverside Amusement Park 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 ...
in
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
, US from 1903 to 1970. Originating as a joint venture between engineer/amusement park developer
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 ma ...
and Indianapolis businessmen J. Clyde Power, Albert Lieber, Bert Fiebleman, and Emmett Johnson,
[David J. Bodenhamer, Robert Graham Barrows, and David Gordon Vanderstel, ''The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis'' (Indiana University Press 1994) ] the park was built by Ingersoll's Pittsburgh Construction Company adjacent to
Riverside City Park at West 30th Street between White River and the Central Canal in the
Riverside subdivision of Indianapolis.
[Indianapolis Amusement Parks 1903-1911: Landscapes on the Edge](_blank)
- Connie J. Zeigler, Indiana University 2007
History
Formation and early years
On 6 January 1903,
incorporation papers were filed for Riverside Amusement Company with the
State of Indiana
Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
. The list of company directors included William Jineson (of
Charleroi, Pennsylvania
Charleroi ( ) is a borough in Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States, along the Monongahela River, 21 miles south of Pittsburgh. Charleroi was settled in 1890 and incorporated in 1891. The 2020 census recorded a population of 4,210.
Red ...
), Elmore E. Gregg and Frederick Ingersoll (both of
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
), J. Clyde Power and Albert Leiber (both of Indianapolis). The following May, the park opened and was an immediate success.
One of Ingersoll's signature
figure 8 roller coaster
Figure 8 roller coasters are a category of roller coasters where the train (roller coaster), train runs through a figure 8 shaped course before returning to the boarding station. This design was one of the first designs to be featured in roller c ...
s was one of several attractions pulling in the crowds in the park's early days;
another was a
looking-glass maze
A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lead ...
. The park's first manager, Frank P. Thomas, Sr., decided not to charge an admission fee for entry onto the grounds, opting to charge the patrons by the individual ride (5 cents for the "double-eight tobaggan railway", for example).
Despite Ingersoll's turning his attention away from Riverside Amusement Park and toward his plans for
Rocky Glen Park
Rocky Glen Park was a trolley park located near Moosic, Pennsylvania. Founded by Arthur Frothingham in 1886 as picnic grounds, it was transformed into an amusement park by engineer and entrepreneur Frederick Ingersoll in 1904. The park featured ...
and
Indianola Park
Indianola Park was a trolley park that operated in Columbus, Ohio's University District from 1905 to 1937. The amusement park was created by Charles Miles and Frederick Ingersoll, and peaked in popularity in the 1910s, entertaining crowds of up to ...
(with his
Luna Park
Luna Park is a name shared by dozens of currently operating and defunct amusement parks. They are named after, and partly based on, the first Luna Park (Coney Island, 1903), Luna Park, which opened in 1903 during the heyday of large Coney Islan ...
s only two years into the future), Power (himself an engineer) and the directors of the Riverside Amusement Company quickly added an
Old Mill ride in which boats were ridden through a darkened tunnel into a replica of a working
flour mill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...
. In 1906, J.S. Sandy became the new manager and hired 120 men to expand and update the park. Live
entertainment
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but it is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have deve ...
added to the throngs as Sandy arranged for increased
streetcar
A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...
service into the park.
On 6 May 1906, opening day for the park's fourth season, approximately 30,000 people visited the park (one-fifth the population of Indianapolis at the time), according to Sandy.
Two weeks later, a second competing amusement park,
Wonderland, opened its gates to the public. By the end of the year another,
White City, opened along the White River, north of the Indianapolis
city limit
City limits or city boundaries refer to the defined boundary or border of a city. The area within the city limit can be called the city proper. Town limit/boundary and village limit/boundary apply to towns and villages. Similarly, corporate li ...
. The three-way rivalry involving Riverside Amusement Park, Wonderland, and White City intensified over the next two years (White City was destroyed by fire 26 June 1908; Wonderland met the same fate three years later).
Attractions and rides were being added in an increasing rate: an "aerial swing", a Japanese bowling alley, a "Gee Whiz", an electric
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 ...
, a
miniature railway
A ridable miniature railway (US: riding railroad or grand scale railroad) is a large scale, usually ground-level railway that hauls passengers using locomotives that are often models of full-sized railway locomotives (powered by Diesel engine, ...
, various arcade and carnival games... and a massive (350 feet long)
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. Each new ride was bedecked with lighting similar to that of the
Luna Park
Luna Park is a name shared by dozens of currently operating and defunct amusement parks. They are named after, and partly based on, the first Luna Park (Coney Island, 1903), Luna Park, which opened in 1903 during the heyday of large Coney Islan ...
s (not only of
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 ...
but also Ingersoll's burgeoning empire in
Cleveland
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
and
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
). Riverside Amusement Park also benefitted from the increased popularity of its skating rink, dancing pavilion, canoes, and rowboats—each generating revenues as the park's new rivals spent thousands of dollars with new attractions and rides. The last notable addition under the aegis of J.S. Sandy (as mechanical rides were rapidly declining in popularity) was the bathing beach (with a six-story-tall diving tower), opened in 1910.
Ownership change
In 1919, the park had new ownership. Lewis Coleman, a lawyer who provided legal advice to the Riverside Amusement Company and took payment in the form of company stock, organized the Riverside Exhibition Company and gained control of the park.
With Coleman as president, the park added two large roller coasters (The Flash and The Thriller), installed
Dodgem cars (a forerunner of today's
bumper car
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 or ceiling, and which are turned on and off remotely by an operator. They are ...
s), replaced the miniature railroad with a longer one, expanded the dancing pavilion and converted it into a
roller skating
Roller skating is the act of travelling on surfaces with roller skates. It is a recreation, recreational activity, a sport, and a form of transportation. Roller rinks and skate parks are built for roller skating, though it also takes place on s ...
rink, and housed the games and concessions in new concrete buildings.
[UNWA](_blank)
- Polis Center The additional investments reversed the park's trend in declining attendance over the previous decade (this trend was mirrored nationally as amusement park after amusement park ceased to exist after the initial first-decade-of-the-new-century boom).
Lewis also instituted a "
whites only
Racial segregation is the separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, such as schools and hospitals by people ...
" policy in the park, permitting
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
s access to the park only on designated days.
It would remain in effect for almost 50 years.
In 1939, control of the park was passed from Lewis Coleman to his son, John.
The younger Coleman kept the park alive through the
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 ...
years by sponsoring wartime relief programs to military families and emphasizing patriotism in his park's publicity.
Riverside Amusement Park's attendance increased after the end of
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 ...
and the return of the region's troops to their home. The residents of Indianapolis gained in mobility (due to greater availability of motor transportation) and in leisure activity. An estimated one million people visited the park's
midway and skating rink in 1952.
By the end of the decade, Coleman added new attractions and rides, including one that became popular in the newly opened
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, ...
, an automobile turnpike ride. Ironically,
theme 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 ...
s like Disneyland and the private automobile also proved to be two major contributors to the demise of the park less than two decades later.
Demise of the park
The decade of the 1960s was not a kind one for Riverside Amusement Park, which was losing attendance for the first time since the end of World War II. By the time John Coleman lifted the "whites only" policy (in response to a series of protests organized by the
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...
Youth Council in 1963), the park was losing $30,000 a year.
Increased cost of insurance, maintenance, and new rides, coupled with increased competition from the emerging
theme 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 ...
s, were cited by Coleman as the park closed for the last time at the end of the 1970 season.
Meyer Cohen bought the park in 1976, intending to reopen it on a smaller scale. The site was linked to an outbreak of
histoplasmosis
Histoplasmosis is a fungal infection caused by ''Histoplasma capsulatum''. Symptoms of this infection vary greatly, but the disease affects primarily the lungs. Occasionally, other organs are affected; called disseminated histoplasmosis, it can ...
in 1976, the largest to that date in the United States, causing Cohen to put the site up for sale.
All the rides were sold or demolished by 1978. The land lay undisturbed for more than two decades, until the construction of the Rivers Edge subdivision in the early 2000s.
Past projects: Kosene and Kosene
- page for developers of River's Edge development
References
{{Amusement parks in Indiana
Defunct amusement parks in Indiana
Amusement parks in Indiana
1903 establishments in Indiana
1970 disestablishments in Indiana
Tourism in Indianapolis
Amusement parks opened in 1903
Amusement parks closed in 1970