"Probably the most egregious closings occurred in the 1920s when Chicago Mayor William Hale "Big Bill" Thompson called off school and gave children free tickets to the Riverview amusement park on the North Side. At least twice, in 1922 and 1928, the notoriously corrupt mayor thumbed his nose at parents and teachers alike to curry favor with future voters still in school.
"Parents were understandably outraged that their kids were pulled from class and dumped in the middle of the park unchaperoned.
"The Tribune reported of school children learning from a 'snake charmer' and being seduced to see an 'Amazonian jungle woman'.:
I remember going out to Chicago's Great America amusement park once with students who were to use math and science to determine how the rides worked and their heights. More on that next post.
I Would Like to see that "Amazonian Jungle Woman." --Cooter
Showing posts with label Riverview Amusement Park. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Riverview Amusement Park. Show all posts
Friday, February 6, 2015
Saturday, July 2, 2011
The Remnants of Chicago's Riverview Amusement Park-- Part 3
Ralph Lopez has all sorts of Riverview memorabilia at home and operates a website at riverviewparkchicago.com. The park was closed on Mondays.
He loved working there and was clearing over $300 a week, good money back then.
Today, Lopez conducts tours of the site, which today has Riverview Plaza strip mall, the Chicago Police Belmont Area station, DeVry University and Richard Clark Park. At the south end of Clark Park in a wooded area by the river, there is a huge concrete foundation that was once part of the Shoot the Chutes tower where boats were dropped.
Rumors have it that racial tensions in 1967 led to the park's closing, primarily due to one of the park's rides, the African Dip, where patrons threw balls at a target trying to dunk a black man into a tank of water. This, however, was closed in the late '50s due to pressure from the black community.
Another possible reason was that the land had become too valuable. The park drew 1.7 million people in its last year of operation, 1967. Another theory has the changing North center neighborhood which had once been dominated by Germans, Italians and other European groups, but more minorities were moving in.
You can take a video tour of the Riverview at chicagotribune.com/riverview.
Back before Today's Same-Old, Same-Old Parks. --Cooter
He loved working there and was clearing over $300 a week, good money back then.
Today, Lopez conducts tours of the site, which today has Riverview Plaza strip mall, the Chicago Police Belmont Area station, DeVry University and Richard Clark Park. At the south end of Clark Park in a wooded area by the river, there is a huge concrete foundation that was once part of the Shoot the Chutes tower where boats were dropped.
Rumors have it that racial tensions in 1967 led to the park's closing, primarily due to one of the park's rides, the African Dip, where patrons threw balls at a target trying to dunk a black man into a tank of water. This, however, was closed in the late '50s due to pressure from the black community.
Another possible reason was that the land had become too valuable. The park drew 1.7 million people in its last year of operation, 1967. Another theory has the changing North center neighborhood which had once been dominated by Germans, Italians and other European groups, but more minorities were moving in.
You can take a video tour of the Riverview at chicagotribune.com/riverview.
Back before Today's Same-Old, Same-Old Parks. --Cooter
Friday, July 1, 2011
The Remnants of Chicago's Riverview Amusement Park-- Part 2
Riverview closed its doors in September 1967 and called itself "The World's Largest Amusement Park."
Ralph Lopez worked at the park from 1957 to its closing and now is the historian of the place. People always ask him about the Bobs Roller Coaster, nearly 90 feet tall which would reach speeds of 50 mph. Then there was the Pair-O-Chutes, where people dropped free-fall for 100 feet. No thank you for that one, the Bobs scared me badly enough.
Don't forget Aladdin's Castle, the huge fun house at the park entrance, getting smooched on the Tunnel of Love or throwing up on the Wild Mouse, another roller coaster. No way I was going on that one after the Bobs.
Lopez worked on the Shoot the Chutes where boats dropped 65 feet into a pool, an early water ride.
More to Come. --Cooter
Ralph Lopez worked at the park from 1957 to its closing and now is the historian of the place. People always ask him about the Bobs Roller Coaster, nearly 90 feet tall which would reach speeds of 50 mph. Then there was the Pair-O-Chutes, where people dropped free-fall for 100 feet. No thank you for that one, the Bobs scared me badly enough.
Don't forget Aladdin's Castle, the huge fun house at the park entrance, getting smooched on the Tunnel of Love or throwing up on the Wild Mouse, another roller coaster. No way I was going on that one after the Bobs.
Lopez worked on the Shoot the Chutes where boats dropped 65 feet into a pool, an early water ride.
More to Come. --Cooter
Thursday, June 30, 2011
The Remnants of Chicago's Riverview Amusement Park-- Part 1
From the June 22nd Chicago Tribune by John Owens.
The 74-acre park been gone for over 40 years now, but older Chicago-folk still talk about it, most with fond memories. Not me, I went there once and rode my first roller coaster there with buddy Rusty (his first ride on one as well).
That was our last roller coaster ride for about 16 years when I reluctantly went on the Screaming Eagle at Great America in Gurnee, Illinois. Rusty and I went on the famous Bobs. We should have gone on a smaller one, perhaps a kids' one.
Scared both of us extremely badly, and the two girls we were trying to impress in the car in front of us had a great laugh at our expense.
The article was about Russ Hencinski who used to go to the amusement as a youngster and now can see the former location of it from his classroom at Lane Tech High School. He can still see all the rides in his mind. he attended Lane Tech from 1963 to 1967 and has been teaching at his former school for thirty years.
Stay Off the Bobs!! --Cooter
The 74-acre park been gone for over 40 years now, but older Chicago-folk still talk about it, most with fond memories. Not me, I went there once and rode my first roller coaster there with buddy Rusty (his first ride on one as well).
That was our last roller coaster ride for about 16 years when I reluctantly went on the Screaming Eagle at Great America in Gurnee, Illinois. Rusty and I went on the famous Bobs. We should have gone on a smaller one, perhaps a kids' one.
Scared both of us extremely badly, and the two girls we were trying to impress in the car in front of us had a great laugh at our expense.
The article was about Russ Hencinski who used to go to the amusement as a youngster and now can see the former location of it from his classroom at Lane Tech High School. He can still see all the rides in his mind. he attended Lane Tech from 1963 to 1967 and has been teaching at his former school for thirty years.
Stay Off the Bobs!! --Cooter
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