|
Although St. Louis Park did not any amusement parks
within its borders, Parkites have had access to several such
parks through the years. Here are a few of them:
Antlers Park
was a 40 acre park was located on Lake
Marion in Lakeville.
From the Lakewood Area Historical Society:
Antlers Amusement Park became one of the
most famous amusement parks in the upper Midwest. It
contained a lavish dance pavilion with a gleaming oak
dance floor; a large bathing beach that featured a dock,
diving tower and high sliding chute; a boat dock that
offered sailboats, rowboats and canoes; a children's
playground with a miniature operating train for
children; tennis courts, an athletic field and baseball
diamond with a grandstand for spectators; and an aerial
swing. A nine-hole golf course was located nearby. The
Dan Patch Railroad Line [provided transportation to the
park.] Luxury excursion cars with real leather
seats, stained glass upper windows and richly carved and
inlaid wood brought thousands of visitors to the park
each summer. On weekends in the summer of 1912, these
trains reportedly made 19 scheduled runs each day. The
area was already popular with wealthy families from
southern states who came to escape summer heat and
humidity. These families and other visitors stayed in
cabins located around the lake or at Weichselbaum's
Resort, which was famous for its fried chicken, apple
pie and homemade ice cream. The The amusement park
declined in popularity in the 1920s and 1930s [streetcar
co. sold it in 1916] due to a combination of factors -
the advent of the automobile, the Great Depression and
several dry years that saw Lake Marion drop to its
lowest level ever.
Big Island Park
lasted from 1906 to 1911. This 65-acre park was situated on
the heavily wooded Big
Island on Lake Minnetonka. It was purchased in
1905 and operated by the
Minneapolis and Suburban Railroad Co., a subsidiary of the
Twin Cities Rapid Transit Co. (TCRT). Park-goers would take
the new electric streetcar, which ran just south of St.
Louis Park on 44th Street, to the Excelsior Dock, where
passengers could take one of 9 streetcar boats (named Minneapolis, St.
Paul, Minnetonka, Como, Minnehaha, White Bear, Hopkins,
Harriet and Stillwater) to the park. The official opening was
on August 5, 1906 [1907]. The boats operated until 1926.
Patrons were met with such amusements
as the “Happy Hooligan Slide,” a “Figure-8 Toboggan,” and a
miniature train. The park featured a large music casino, a
large roller coaster, the Old Mill, the Scenic Ride to
Yellowstone, and a carousel. The buildings has a Spanish
mission theme. A 200 ft. tower dominated the park.
The price was only 25 cents,
including the streetcar ride, and it became clear that it
was not a profitable operation, especially after the TCRT
also bought the Tonka Bay Hotel. Both the park and the hotel
closed at the end of the 1911 season. After sitting
abandoned for a few years, the park was disassembled in
1918, its iron going to scrap iron for the (WWI) war effort.
Some remaining buildings, including a mess hall, became part
of a Veteran's Camp starting in the early 20's. The
streetcar boats were discontinued in July of 1926. In 1924,
Excelsior Amusement Park was built at the site of the
waiting station for the streetcar boats. Streetcar boats
were revived in 1996. For pictures from the Minnesota
Historical Society, click
here,
Excelsior Amusement Park
the site of many a school
picnic and provider of Free Rides for Good Grades, opened on
May 30, 1925, the brainchild of Fred W. Pearce, Sr., of
Detroit. The streetcar that ran down 44th Street just south
of Brookside took passengers from Minneapolis to the park
until 1932, when it was replaced by a bus from Hopkins.
In
1933, you could see Capt. Jack Payne leap backward from a
100-foot ladder into a tank of blazing fire – THRILLING –
DARING – DEATH DEFYING! You could also see Smith’s diving
ponies leap from a tower 55 feet into a shallow tank of
water. Other attractions were Fred Reckless on a swaying
pole in 1932, and Prince Nelson, who walked the tightrope 80
feet above the ground without a net in 1931.

July 6, 1933, Hennepin County Review
One of the biggest attractions was the "Mountain Road"
wooden rollercoaster, built by the Philadelphia Toboggan
Company. It was called the highest roller coaster in
the Northwest - back when it was the only roller coaster in
the Northwest. When the park closed it had to be demolished.
Fred Pearce eventually built 27 other roller coasters.
The other favorite attraction was the merry-go-round, made
of wood by Italian craftsmen. Fortunately, the
carousel was saved and sold to Valleyfair, which opened on
May 25, 1976.
Across the street from Excelsior Park was the Danceland Ballroom, the former casino of the Tonka Bay
Hotel. It was acquired by Excelsior Park in 1928, closed in
1968, and burned to the ground on July 8, 1973.
Still in the Pearce family, the park closed the weekend
after Labor Day, 1973. For pictures from the Minnesota
Historical Society, click
here
Wildwood Park
was on the south shore of White Bear
Lake in what is now the City of Mahtomedi. It was there from
roughly 1898 to 1938 and was quite a popular place. It was
much like Excelsior Amusement Park on Lake Minnetonka. The
park was owned by the Twin City Rapid Transit Corp.
For pictures from the Minnesota Historical Society, click
here.
Wonderland Amusement
Park
was built by H.A. Donnelly at East Lake Street and 31st
[34th], today's Longfellow Minneapolis. The park, which lasted
from 1906 until 1912, featured a roller coaster, miniature
train, a floating theater, and the "House of Nonsense." The
most popular attraction was an exhibition of premature
babies in incubators, a common curiosity of the times. For
pictures from the Minnesota Historical Society,
click here.
|
 |