Ive ridden the roller coaster that was moved from Paragon to Six Flags America, in both of its locations; Six Flags restored a (horizontal) loop at the end that burned and was removed at Paragon. I hope that whatever parks are now available to families offer todays kids memories that they will carry with them into their 70s too. Happy Anniversary to you both. United States--Massachusetts--Nantasket Beach. Us and some of our neighbors would take advantage of $5 after 5 nights to take the kids to Whalom Park a few times a summer. Yet seeing these places thrill and entertain todays families also makes us nostalgic for the now-closed New England amusement parks that paved the way. Great memories going back at least 50 years! Its most famous piece is functioning a huge light up cross at the top of a summit overlooking I-84, clearly seen from the highway at all hours. I was so sad when Lincoln park closed. The carousel was always a favorite ride no matter how young or old I was. The Friends operate the carousel next door to the former railroad station, and in 2013 opened a small museum of Paragon memorabilia. Worked there for a while after graduation. We went there many times. I believe the amusement park in Lincoln Rhode Island is no longer there. When it closed a man I knew bought the huge statue of the steer they had and someone else got the elephant. The rest of the site is devoted to condominiumdevelopment. Now, it's. Crews worked around the clock to rebuild the Giant so that it could open that season. At about the same time, Dodge decided to scale back from running Paragon on a day-to-day basis. The later years at Bensons they had Christmas displays. But, it was a nice park located conveniently on Route 6 between Fall River and New Bedford. Climb on board the classic, wooden \"Giant Coaster\" at Paragon Park at Nantasket Beach on Boston's South Shore. Thank you for putting these wonderful pictures together. He operated the coaster until it's demise in 1916 when it was destroyed by a fire. In 1917, another man fell and got creamed into paste after reaching out of the Derby Racer to retrieve his fallen hat. growing up in Nashua, it was an exciting and exotic school field trip in the early 70s. And in the early 1960s, there was Pleasure Island in Wakefield, MA, with a pirate theme. My parents had season tickets on Tuesday nights for years. . Today, the only surviving remnant of Paragon Park on the boardwalk is the historic Paragon Park Carousel, which was moved from its original site. They open for the 2022 season on May 28. https://www.canobie.com/. The coaster shut down when Paragon Park closed in 1984. Owner / Operator As the story goes, were it not for the limited number of months in the year it could be open, Disney would have been more involved. It officially became an amusement park in 1980 and featured a number of flat rides mostly from HUSS Maschinenfabrik as it served as a U.S. showcase for new Huss rides during the 1980s. An Ohio woman who passed out while riding a roller coaster at a southern Indiana theme park later died at a local hospital, a coroner said. What a great story. Games manager Myron Klayman, the brother-in-law of owner Phyllis Stone, was a selectman in Hull at the time of the storm, and recalled serving dual roles in helping the town clean up from the disaster while also directing crews at his employer. Lost in that fire was much of the holiday inventory of Toy-A-Rama, a seasonal store in Paragons former roller skating rink that competed against the Arcade Bazaar. Maybe 5 +. you do know the Giant Coaster exists, right? The 1917 season would bring with it major changes at Paragon. So many wonderful memories. We took our children there when there were young. Great memories. My Park in Holyoke, MA. Let us know in the comments below! Our graduating class of 1950 went there after our senior banquet for a fun evening. The reason for the hoopla appears to be "Paragon Park: The Musical," co-written by Zoe Bradford and Michael Hammond with music and lyrics by Adam Brooks. What about Pine Island Park, In Manchester, NH? She convinced me to ride the corkscrew roller coaster and that was the beginning of my love of roller coasters. Photo: Rich Koppelman. He didn't survive the incident. I still think of it and its thrills in y late 70s. We were bused to school at Hingham. Roller Coaster Death: Five amusement park deaths that will shock roller coaster fans 1. Roller skating, rides, swimming even a boat that gave rides around the lake. War rationing and blackout drills during the 1940s put more strain on the parks operations. Download Go. I believe Lake Compounce still there. In the photo at right, from June 2, 1942, mechanics who had just finished the annual inspection and repairs to the Paragon Park roller coaster gave it the first ride of the 1942 season. It is now adjacent to the old train station and clock tower. Dad saw Mom and went over and told her he was going to marry her. The Massachusetts real estate market blossomed in the mid-1980s, and the factors that in the past had limited Paragons ability to expand now gave it extra value it was sandwiched between two bodies of water and the views that came with them. While the Lincoln Park Comet may have rotted away until it was finally removed, The Giant Coaster from Paragon Park lives on at another park. I liked Riverside Park in the 70s. SUMMER - Open six days a week during the summer (closed Tuesdays). How Id love to take one more slide ride. Great memories growing up there with the park, the bowling alley and the roller skating rink! Movie Stars came from California The Three Stooges often preformed on stage I believe it closed in the late 60s. Within a few weeks, Kahn announced that the developers would ride to the rescue and keep the ride operating, either on-site or at a separate location within the towns borders. I graduated from Hull High School and lived at the very end of Sunset Point. Flag item for content or copyright Hopefully at a family get together that poor kid is now telling his children (or grandchildren), You ARE NOT going to believe what happened to me in 1984 at Whalom Park, it sure wasnt funny then but looking back, Back in 1973, a guy made a sci-fi home film that had several filming locations, one of them being the Fun-o-Rama park at Salisbury Beach, MA. A new stone-carved front entrance designed by Hugh Cairns would add elegance to the Nantasket Avenue side. My first date with my now wife of 38 years was there! Paragon Park opened to the public on Saturday, June 10, 1905, transforming Nantasket Beach for the better part of the 20th century. Waves are just as likely to come from local windswells as distant groundswells, and the best swell direction comes from the northeast. [1] More rides that Paragon hosted over the years were the Trabant, the Tilt-A-Whirl, Galaxy Coaster, the Skydiver, Paratrooper, Matterhorn, Himalaya, Round Up, Scrambler, Crazy Tea Cups, Twister Kiddie Coaster, Caterpillar, the Whip, Batman-slide, Super-slide, Salt and Pepper Shakers, Swing ride, Rotor, along with many rides that were smaller versions of these, geared towards children. Retro Roadmap Photo Archives- Do These Places Look Familiar To You? Aw, Les that sounds like a lot of good times! I loved White City! Dad took us there at least once every summer???????? So many memories of the roller coaster and other rides, as well as swimming at the beach across the street from the park where the water was very cold indeed! I remember thinking that day that I would come back and photograph the place right, and get some good shots as there were rumors that the park would close after the next season. Mountain Park in Holyoke, MA! The most visible prize at the June auction didnt attract the highest bid, but garnered the most attention. peter; It was the best rink around as they took good care of the hardwood floor, Curious would you have been from Leominster and chewed peppermint gum at the time, The 60s was my era for skating at Whalom. I grew up in The Berkshires and looked forward every summer to making a trip to Mountain Park and stopping at the nearby dinosaur tracks along with way. Everytime I drive into town via George Washington Blvd I think back on when me and my siblings would try to be the first to see the roller coaster. Great memories! Take a ride down Memory Lane! Maurer Rides, a company from Germany,. And in the mid-1960s, local radio station WBZ would sometimes have live broadcasts from Paragon Park. Great park. I have a 24 doll won by my aunt at the Nantasket beach, the doll has no markings, but has the tag still stapled on the voil dress she has on, the tag said won at Luckys Nantasket beach park . It is a warm summer day and Paragon Park is busy with visitors. Each week, it seemed, brought a new development proposal. Mountain Park in Holyoke was my favorite, my cousins and I would go there when they visited from Acton. It is the oldest coaster in any Six Flags park. A Save the Carousel effort began in earnest in February, with local residents lobbying Larry and Phyllis Stone to keep the merry-go-round intact, and keep it in Hull. In talking to Alexander Graham Bell, 13 miles away in Providence, Hayes opened with the not-so-memorable quote, Please speak a little more slowly.). A scaled down replica of a tour around the Holy Land, the premise certainly has promise. After spending months being battered in the public realm, Kahn and Quinn abruptly changed course. The carousel moved down the block the following spring, by which time the developers had returned with a new plan for a seven-story, 112-unit brick building fronting Nantasket Avenue. The financial difficulties of the Depression weighed heavily on Paragons operations. Long before there was Disneyland, there was Wonderland. The Nantasket Beach Steamboat Company struggled for several years before declaring bankruptcy; the Old Colony Railroad suspended train service in 1932, substituting buses to and from the Nantasket Junction depot in Hingham. memories of Nantasket! I thought it was pretty cool that the Paragon Giant Coaster was on the list of the Smithsonians Top Ten Coasters list. What a surprise to have Colossus live at our Zoo here, for many years. Thank you so much for this page! Wish I had more photos from back then, but had no idea the park would be closed. I had so many old photos of me so young with families and cousins srbthede park, Canobie is still open, far as I could tell, Canobie Lake Park is definitely not closed. Selling the 18-story development to the public was a harder task than the developers had imagined, however, and by fall, even with a compromise reduction to 12 stories, Kahn and Quinn faced stiff opposition. My grandparents lived in Nantasket so I had the pleasure of going to Paragon Park many times during the summer months. A great park for a day trip with the family. "It has stood the test of time." I wonder if anyone remembers the Pine Island Park in NH. My best friend took me there when I moved to the area in 1983. Tilyous inventions were so commonplace that fun houses of differing sizes became known as a steeplechase.. Eric- what cool memories! The Giant Coaster sat silent, and the undulating tracks looked like the skeleton of a dinosaur carcass, being slowly dismantled and eaten away at by the vultures that couldnt wait to turn the site into a condominium complex. The 25.9-acre amusement park the nation's largest at the time included roller coasters and other rides, games, vaudeville and movie theaters, a funhouse, and a "health center" where premature infants in incubators were put on display. Its layout and format modeled those of Luna and Dreamland at Coney Island, with an ornate front entrance and exhibitions from foreign lands surrounding the lagoon and electric tower. Rosanna Arias/FEMA Tmmertransport med hest langs elva Lera ved Dalseng, som renner ut i Brumunda i Veldre, Ringsaker. well, all was fine till halfway home and my brother starts getting sick I was on top of my step sister out the window most of the ride home Still great times and I miss when we used to have no cares but having fun.. Thanks for reminding me of some really great times. In one incident, a man fell into a pond. That was a summer vacation treat for us kids in NH. The amount of time the blackberry has been allowed to ripen has an impact on how bitter, Because of its shape, farfalle means butterflies and is commonly referred to as bow tie pasta. The west is the best wind direction. A great first job! And I can still hear the excited screams of the daring roller coaster riders now. about three woopdie doos If I remember it correctly and about 10 lanes wide. The remains of the "Turnpike Cars" roadway ride are hidden in overgrowth beside the parking lot, although are very much visible via Google Maps. spent hours running around the park and laughing! Six Flags Over Georgia, Batman: The Ride Was 14-Year-Old Who Died at Orlando Amusement Park Too Heavy. I was in 5th grade so spent much of the summer watching the fishing boats come and leave from Pemberton Pier. Of the parks you describe, I visited Rocky Point and Bensons Wild Animal Farm as a child. It was one of the first landmarks you would spot when driving into Hull on George Washington Boulevard: The Giant Roller Coaster of Paragon Park. Although the Stone and Golden partnership to operate the park had dissolved around 1925, ownership of the land remained divided until 1951. We rented a big house, across the street from the beach. For out-of-state visitors, parking at Nantasket Beach will increase from $10 to $15 per day, and $20 per day. AFAICT Canobie Lake is still open? Revere Beach was the closest, and we visited often. I lived at Nantasket from 75 79. A park worker's fatal joyride Raymond Boyd/Getty Images Looff built the parks first merry-go-round in 1892 and another in 1895. Roller Coaster; Wood; Sit Down; Extreme; Make: Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters, Inc. Pictures; Videos; Maps; Tracks. Also had my first date with my future husband at Riverside!! Master carousel artisan Charles I.D. Rumors occasionally surfaced of a potential buyer showing interest, but as each winters gossip gave way to springs warmer temperatures, Paragons gates swung open to welcome the crowds. Hi Joanne, I skated most every week end at the roller rink, Lil and her husband were great. So many times I think of the times spent there and tell my children and grandchildren about this magical place!! It is now adjacent to the old train station and clock tower. We couldnt go often, back then it was a long drive in the older cars. different name. Golden. There was a coast guard station at lands end and a rather exquisite abandoned nightclub also at lands end. Roller skating was a big thing for me. I never saw that girl again. Within two seasons, however, Paragon was falling short of its financial projections, Eastern Parks investors wanted to abandon the concept. Still saw remnants of the park in the area. That was wicked cool when you were a kid. Real estate interests were inspired both by the removal of what some considered the honky tonk amusements and by the zoning loophole Kahns plans had exposed. What we know about the amusement park accident that killed an 11-year-old Iowa boy. I found this video in my archives! they actually replaced a section that burned in the 1960s so the coaster is the way it was originally designed. Wow spent every summer thare as a kid into my teenage yrs. Roller coaster, [Paragon Park], Nantasket Beach, Mass. The parks next transformation would not come from fire, but from Mother Natures wrath. Wonderland itself was inspired by the massive Worlds Fair exhibits that had been an international sensation since the mid-19th century. Kahn already knew that the towns zoning rules for the park property lacked a key ingredient: a height limit. Growing up in Everett,MA I know several of these parks. There was a beautiful picnic area and was home to to the Mountain Park Playhouse for avid theater goers. David Goran is one of the authors writing for The Vintage News Although the arcades still exist, Salisbury Beach was a favorite growing up. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, Nantasket Beach has been a popular summer vacation destination for city dwellers. If my memory serves me, there was a airplane ride that soared over the lake ! On June 9, 1991, death stalked the grounds of Kings Island amusement park. I think he is still alive but at a Zoo in another state. White City was the bestthe whole family would go on a Sunday afternooncousins, aunts and uncleswhat a blast! Whalom Park was a wonderful place for so many in the 60s. Its not very long, but theres a scene where kids are running around a portion of the park. Miss Rocky Point, grandparents had a cottage right next to the park, spent many summer weekends visiting the cottages and walking to the park, loved the pool, playing speedball, the pizza slices and the bumper are. 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