I’ve always had a thing for theme parks and their less-glorious cousins, amusement parks, the carnival midway, and others of such ilk.

Grey Rucka – Quotestats.com

A Trip Back in Time

As we embark on today’s journey, we will go back in time to a place that we all loved as children. To a place where we hear the sound of the calliope as the merry-go-round moves up and down, the roller coaster as it zooms overhead, and the smell of hot dogs and even cotton candy fills my mind with wonderful sweet memories. Of course I am talking about the amusement park. A fun zone for the masses. How did they come into being, and where was the first amusement park opened?

In the year 1684 there was a tribe known as the Mattatuck/Tunxis living in a part of what was to become Connecticut, their Chieftain John Compound, deeded the land over to the settlers who had migrated to central Connecticut from Massachusetts. They used the Chieftains last name Compound, to name the lake. The settlers lived and worked the land for many years.

The Start of an Amazing Amusement Park

In the year 1846, the owner of the land was one of the original settlers whose name was Gad Norton, and he was persuaded by a scientist, Samuel Botsford, to allow him to do a series of experiments in electricity. In doing this research, the word spread and multitudes of curious onlookers arrived. While they were there to see the experiments, they realized the beauty of the woods, and the lake drew them closer to relish in it’s beauty. Mr. Botsford did steal the show though with his last experiment. He had tied two huge jugs of gunpowder under a raft and even though it did blow up the test failed. Unfortunately, Mr. Norton who was not impressed with Mr. Botsford experiments, was absorbed with all the people that this program brought by and this motivated him to create a public place by cutting a footpath around the lake, and setting up tables, plus he would permit swimming, and rowing boats on the lake. Soon after, he built a gazebo, and had bands, and before you could blink an eye, this was the place to be, and this would be known as a picnic park.

In the following year the park unveiled a hand-powered revolving swing, and Connecticut’s first ten-pin bowling alley, and pool tables to round out the lot. Norton had not realized yet, but an amusement park was just on the horizon. In 1851 Norton joined forces with a “Gold Rush 49er” by the name of Isaac Pierce, and together they formed the company of Pierce and Norton, and would soon engage on a large venture. Their grand ideas had to be put on hold though because we were heading into one of the largest battles as a nation yet. The Civil War!

The Start of Lake Compounce Amusement Park

With the war over, pierce and Norton petitioned the Connecticut legislator to set-them off from the town of Southington, where they resided, to the town of Bristol where they could expand the park. The Casino was the first permanent building on the property and it included a restaurant downstairs, and a ballroom upstairs. What a bargain too, you could dine on a full course meal for fifty cents. In today’s world you can’t even get a drink for fifty cents. In the 30’s a dance floor was added and on one night an all-time attendance record was set when 5000 people came out to see and dance to Tommy Dorsey’s Band and hear a new crooner by the name of Frank Sinatra.

At the same time a carousel was being built, and the say it took 4 master carvers to bring this ride to life. When everything was all pulled together it cost the park around 10,000 dollars to purchase. the Carousel, and it’s many rides opened on Memorial Day 1911. The price they paid to have it made sounds like a steal today, and it would be, for today’s equivalent it would cost $285,995.79. The Carousel has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Green Dragon was the parks first electric-powered roller coaster, and as popular as it was in 1927, it was torn down to make way for a coaster still in use today The Wildcat. It is a wooden coaster built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company, and has run for 94 years.

The Green Dragon

The lake was, and still is a large attraction for the public. In May 1929 at a cost of $2,800, Lake Compounce purchased the first three Chris Craft speed boats, used for rides around the lake. For the sum of 15 cents, a thrilling ride was had, and by July of that same year the boats had paid for themselves.The wooden boats were all handmade and most only affordable to the wealthy.

Then the depression hit and attendance at the lake dwindled, no extra money for fun. They made it through that most awful time, and again started adding attractions to the park. First was a miniature steam railroad, designed and built by British actor William Gillette, the original portrayer of Sherlock Holmes in silent movies. The train ran all around the lake and that year more than 10,000 people had the pleasure of taking a ride. Each year new attractions came, and in the 40’s and 50’s it thrived, they added the “Little Showboat”, and the “Rooster Tails” which tousled people around.

Troubles Ahead

For all the joy and fun that the park provided it has also had it’s hard times. A little girl drowns in the lake, and a maintenance worker trimming weeds under The Wildcat, loses his life when the coaster, being tested for the start of the day, swoops down and crushes his skull in. His brother also a maintenance worker saw this happen and realized his brother never heard the signal to move away from the coaster. Everyday was not a picnic at the lake.

New Owners

Lake Compounce is known as the oldest , continuously-operating amusement park in North America, operating for 175 years. It has had many owners since its beginning with Pierce-Norton, then Pierce sold his shares to The Norton family who owned and operated it till 1985, then changed hands to the Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Co. I’m sure you know them as the owners of Hershey Park in Pennsylvania. They renamed the park to Hershey’s Lake Compounce and due to bad marketing sold it 2 years later to Joseph Entertainment group. They added a 20,000 seat outdoor amphitheater, that became world famous when the group Milli Vanilli performed their song “Girl You Know It’s True”, onstage when the recording of the song started to skip, the world found out they really didn’t sing, they were only lip-syncing. The park that was once a top earner languished. For 3 years after that debacle the only part of the park operating was the beach area and that was so it could keep it’s title as the oldest, continuously-operating park in North America. Next it was sold to Stephen Barberino, and he partnered with Funtown Parks. Rides were repaired and new rides added, plus waterslides for the beach. Yet with all this; the park was on the auction block again, and this time Kennywood Entertainment, owners of Kennywood Park in Pittsburgh PA put up the money for it. I love Kennywood Park, been there many times. They installed the first Boomerang Roller Coaster, and another coaster, called the Boulder Dash and this coaster obtained the Golden Ticket Award for the #1 rated wooden roller-coaster by “Amusement Day” in 2004. The park today is owned by a Spain based company called Parques, when Kennywood Entertainment sold out to them. So many owners, and so many ups and downs, it’ almost like a carousel. With new owners come more new attractions, like Bayou Bay a wave pool, along with a R V Park, campgrounds, and cabins. It is now back to its original name, “Lake Compounce”. I hope you have learned something new about amusement parks and especially this one since it is the oldest amusement park in America. Running an amusement park is not for the FUN of heart, it goes down to hard work and an inventive mind.

See you next time when my article will be:

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