 1914 postcard of Central Park | |
| Location | Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°37′20″N 075°25′15″W / 40.62222°N 75.42083°W |
| Opened | 1893 |
| Area | 40 acres (0.16 km2) |
| Attractions | |
| Total | 25 |
| Roller coasters | 1 |
| Water rides | 1 |
Central Park was an amusement park in the Rittersville section of Allentown, Pennsylvania. It was located land purchased from the Thomas Ritter farm by the Allentown Bethlehem Rapid Transit Company.
History
The park was built in 1892 by one of the Lehigh Valley's first trolley lines, the Allentown & Bethlehem Rapid Transit Company, Central Park was what came to be called a "trolley car park." Trolley companies did a brisk business during the work week when people went to work but they struggled to get the public to use them on weekends. It was decided that having an amusement park to lure people out of town would increase weekend use, and as the public traveled they would go past building lots suitable for houses that belonged to a land development company that was a subsidiary to the trolley line.
The park opened on 2 July 1893, offering 40 acres of shady walks and ample park benches. It also offered rides like the carousel and a toboggan chute, the kind of rides people would have to travel all the way to Asbury Park, New Jersey to enjoy. In spite of a nasty thunderstorm that struck on opening day, Central Park was an immediate hit.
By the turn of the 20th Century, the park grew and grew, reaching its heyday in the period between 1906 to 1920. That year Central Park added a new outdoor theater that could seat 1,600 people. One of the biggest draws was John Philip Sousa's band. Soon couples were dancing the turkey-trout and bunny hug as older folks wondered what this younger generation was coming to. Plays became the thing and by 1912 the theater was expanded to 2,500 seats. The two most popular plays were George M. Cohan's "Only 45 Minutes From Broadway" and Lew Morton's "The Mayor of Tokio."
Central Park's Racing Coaster, also known as the Derby Racer that it claimed "surpassed any ride of its kind in existence in the eastern United States." The Frolic, the Circle Swing and the "Shoot the Chute," a water ride that concluded with an incline that dropped into a lake, were on the order of what might have been found at New York's Coney Island.
When the Allentown-Kutztown Traction Company completed its trolley line from Allentown to Kutztown in 1899, the company added a stop at Dorney Park, Central Park's competitor in the area. However, Central Park held its own. In 1927 when Dorney added its first thrill ride, a roller coaster. Also, by the late 1920s, automobiles were in widespread use. Unlike Central Park, which was tied to the streetcar, Dorney Park had plenty of space for parking.
The first of a twenty year string of fires that plagued Central Park began with one on 16 August 1932. A funhouse, the Mystic Castle and the outdoor theater were the primary victims. The next was the fire that destroyed the Cyclone Coaster in 1935. Fires in June, 1940 and April, 1941 destroyed the popular Dodge'em ride and burned the dance hall. And in 1944 the bowling allies and a billiard parlor burned. On Christmas Day, 1950 the venerable carousel and the prized Derby Racer were destroyed by a fire. On 2 August 1951 a fire alarm sent Allentown firefighters again to Central Park. This time it was the second outdoor theater, the replacement for the one that had burned in 1932
With that fire, the park was closed in December 1951 and the land was sold for real estate development. During the 1960s, the land was redeveloped and today a few abandoned concrete footings remain in wooded areas intermixed between clearings and homes and buildings which now exist on the site.