Luna Park, Pittsburgh
 The entrance to the park | |
| Location | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°27′18″N 79°57′10″W / 40.4551°N 79.9528°W |
| Status | Defunct |
| Opened | 1905 |
| Closed | 1909 |
| Owner | Frederick Ingersoll |
| Area | 16 acres (6.5 ha) |
Luna Park was an amusement park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that operated from 1905 to 1909.[1] Constructed and owned by Frederick Ingersoll, the park occupied a 16 acre[2] hilly site bounded on the south by Atlantic Avenue (now Baum Boulevard) and on the west by North Craig Street,[3] and included many rides and amusements.
History
[edit]Pittsburgh's Luna Park was the first Ingersoll-owned park of the name, out of 44. The park cost $375,000 to construct. It was the first amusement park to be covered with electrical lighting (67,000 light bulbs).[4]
The Pittsburgh Luna Park, alongside its sister park, Luna Park Cleveland, were the beginnings of the world's first amusement park chain. By 1929, two years after Ingersoll's death, 44 parks of the Luna Park name were in operation around the world. Only a few of these parks still operate today, including one in Mexico City, one in Athens, and one in Melbourne.[1]
Luna Park offered many different attractions, including roller coasters, picnic pavilions, a carousel, a fun house, a Ferris wheel, a roller rink, a shoot-the-chutes ride, bumper cars, a concert shell, a dance hall, and a baby incubator exhibit. In its brief existence, the park featured regular performances of bands, acrobatic acts, animal acts, horse riders, and aerial acts.[4]
The cost of upgrading and maintaining his amusement parks proved to be too much for Ingersoll to handle, as he declared bankruptcy in 1908.[4] Several of his parks were sold to others. Pittsburgh's Luna Park was closed in 1909 in the face of competition from a second trolley park nearby, Kennywood Park.
When Kennywood expanded its fairgrounds in 1995, its new Lost Kennywood section was inspired by its former competitor.[5] It centered on a shoot-the-chutes ride. and featured a one-third-scale replica of the Luna Park entrance as a gateway to that section of the park, including an era-appropriate spelling of "Pittsburg".[4]
Aside from the aforementioned tribute at Kennywood, no other remnants of Pittsburgh's Luna Park exist, notably due to a lack of historical markers. The site itself is currently a mixed-use property with both residential buildings and commercial businesses.
References
[edit]
- ^ a b Luna Park's luminary: Entrepreneur/roller coaster designer deserves his due - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1 September 2008
- ^ Kinnear v. Scenic Railways Company of America appellate court ruling, 4 January 1909, reported in The Atlantic Reporter (Anotated), volume 72 (West Publishing Company 1909)
- ^ Atlas of Greater Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: G.M. Hopkins Co. 1910. Plate 8, Plate 9.
- ^ a b c d Jim Futrell, Amusement Parks of Pennsylvania (Flagpole Books, 2002) ISBN 0-8117-2671-1
- ^ History of Kennywood Park Archived 2010-07-23 at the Wayback Machine
