AMUSEMENT PARKS

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.

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This information comes from a variety of sources: newspapers, books, yearbooks, phone directories, interviews, etc. Given the varied sources, we cannot guarantee that all of this information is correct, and welcome any additions and corrections. Please contact us with your contributions and comments.