Southern Park Pittsburgh (Carrick) in Retrospect

So everyone knows about the classic and awesome Kennywood. Less folks know that Pittsburgh Railways Company, the same company that created Kennywood, also had three other parks throughout the city as a means to gain ridership out of the main city area and into the then country. The three other parks were Calhoun Park, Oakwood Park in Crafton, and Southern Park in the Carrick neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Today we will be looking at Southern Park.

Southern Park is now utilized as a park area. Because of the obscurity of the park and the fact that it closed way back in 1910, it is difficult to determine what the park consisted of. Wikipedia and the Carrick Historical Society say there were coasters and carousels, but I cannot find anything in any publications about them, or any photos. Judging by the newspaper ads, this wooded area was primarily used for musical events.

The spot seems like it would be amazing for building coasters for it is located on a steeply graded area. The community park area is known as Phillips Park, named after John M. Phillips, a founding member of the Boy Scouts in Pennsylvania. One of the first projects he partook in was cleaning up the park area to be a public park once the amusement area was removed. He helped plant trees and make this a recreation area after the amusement park closed.

Fourth of July celebration in front of the location of those stairs? This is from the park when it was open. (Carrick Historical Society)

The following clipping from the Pittsburgh Press talks about an ox-roast picnic, with "enjoyment on the various amusements at the park." This is from 1904. This is the only newspaper evidence I can find of there being rides at the park. This may be the only time I talk about politics on this page, and I say that you should generally disregard it. Regardless of where anyone stands on politics, the Republican Party of 1904 was headed by President Teddy Roosevelt, someone I think we can all universally admire.

Now we get into 1905 and find a write up about the many trolley parks. It only makes mention of "amusement devices" at Kennywood. I would imagine that Kennywood was built up quite a bit more for it was kind of in the center of everything, as opposed to the other trolley parks. The major steel cities of Duquesne, McKeesport, Clairton, were in one direction, with Homestead and the City of Pittsburgh in the other. The article uncovers a common theme which seems that Southern Park's offerings mostly consisted of concerts and vaudeville acts.

1905 giant article about the Pittsburgh Trolley Parks. Bands and shows at Southern Park and acrobats as Kennywood.

Here you can see the side by side advertisements for the four trolley parks in their little chain of sorts from 1905. 

In the following advertisement from 1903 you can see the origins of the Kennywood arrow signs. Four arrows for the four parks. Those pointing fingers are how the Kennywood arrow initially looked. The Kennywood Steeplechase was a short lived coaster similar to the famous Coney Island Steeplechase. It only lasted for one season and it was located where Lost Kennywood is today. 

Here in 1906 you can see the suburb starting to pop up around this park that was initially built in a semi-rural area.

Could one of these houses be from this advertisement in 1906? I apologize for the photo quality on this one. It was through the windshield.

I am not certain of the locations of things within this park since so little information exists. The following pictures is from 1914 of Phillips led Boy Scouts cleaning up the park and making a trail. (Carrick Historical Society)

This article from 1916 talks about a shelter. I wonder if it was located around where the Carrick Recreation Center is located at the top of the hill? 1916 was after the park closed as an amusement park and it is likely that it was renamed after Philips in memoriam. 

To sum it all up, this park is a mystery to me. Not much information exists. Each piece of information I find is like a small piece of the puzzle. If anyone else knows anything about this park, please let me know. The park has been closed for 114 years and information is scarce. It is cool that the park left enough of an impact to create a community park that has lasted about a century longer than the park did as an amusement park. I think that in itself is pretty amazing. The fact that it had such a huge impact upon getting the Boy Scouts started in Pennsylvania is pretty awesome as well. 

This article dates back to 1921, long after the park had closed. Athletic events then:

Athletics at the park today:

I find the continuum of how things roll in progress to be absolutely fascinating. Carrick is no longer too much of a suburb as it was back then, but this green area still remains as the heart of the neighborhood, right next to the neighborhood's high school, Carrick High School. It is not until you look into things that you see just how important a seemingly quiet spot can have upon the entire community. 

DelGrosso's June 5th, 2014

For this weekend only we have a sale going on both the print and electronic versions of our book. If you go towww.greatpennsylvaniaparks.com you can get our print book for $15.00 and/or you can get the e-book for only $4.99 at http://www.amazon.com/Great-Pennsylvania-Amusement-Parks-Road-ebook/dp/B00IUNS2IQ Be sure to check out this sale and plan out your summer road trips!

I had a surprise day off today and completed some work on our next project. I spent the morning working on that in Pittsburgh and then went to spend the afternoon at Lakemont for their five dollar wristband deal since this was the only weekday in the foreseeable future I could see myself being available to get to Altoona. Needless to say I was pretty excited.

I got to the park and had a real life Wally World moment.....

I misread the calendar online and found out that the park was closed. John Candy was not present so I moved along. Thankfully only 15 minutes further from the park is another wonderful little park, DelGrosso's!

 The park is lovely. They really care about the place, making everything look good, landscaping nicely, and more. Add in the fact that it is deep in the Allegheny Mountains and it makes for a lovely place to go. I attempted to have a hanging basket in the foreground of this shot and I am definitely not  caring too much for my picture now that I look at it. I was too into the delicious meatball sandwich that I was eating. The park's food is absolutely wonderful for the same family that runs the park also makes the delicious DelGrosso's sauces.

 The park's midway is lovely. They have a wonderful selection of family and kids rides. One of the games pavilions is in the foreground and the beautiful carousel shelter is the round-roofed building in the middle.

 The family rides were all very popular, but my thrill seeking self can never turn down the chance to ride on an ARM/Larson drop tower. They are the best drop towers in the business. They are not the tallest, but I take them over drop towers more than twice their size. 

 The Reverchon Spinner is awesome. I have often wondered why more parks have not added great family rides like these.

 The park's Spillman Carousel is my favorite attraction in the park. It is simply stunning.

 The park's new Music Express ride is not quite ready for action. It looks like it will be one wild ride though!

 As I was saying though, boy do I really love this carousel and the amazing shelter. 

 This may also be the only carousel that I can think of that has three rows of jumpers.

 The center machinery is also pretty minimal in addition to there also being no crawl space underneath the ride. This is a very unique machine.

 While I did not go to get wet, they have a fun little waterpark that folks seemed to be really enjoying. You can also see the beautiful mountains in the background. 

I highly recommend taking a trip to this awesome little park. It is well balanced with a decent selection of rides all around. The park's kids area seems to rival that of any other park. This is the type of place you can take the little ones on a full spectrum of rides and not break the bank doing it.

Dorney's Wildwater Kingdom Before and After Snake Pit

Don't forget to vote for your favorite classic wood coaster designer on the right hand side of the page! We also have a sale on our book, down from $21.95 to $15.00. More information about the book is available at www.greatpennsylvaniaparks.com

So we have seen lots of changes in the last seven years in the area of Dorney Park's Wildwater Kingdom next to the wave pool, Jumpin Jack Splash, and the waterworks. For a while the focus was upon expanding into the parking lot, with the addition of Patriot's Plunge in 2003 (seen below, photo from the Dorney Park Fan Club) and the front wave pool in 2006.

Since the addition of AquaRacer in 2007, the area in which Snake Pit was added has sort of been in limbo. The marquee attraction in this spot, whose name escapes me, was removed at the same time of the addition of the AquaRacer waterside. None of the space was occupied by the Aquaracer, and the drop pool was maintained because the Jumpin Jack Splash Waterslides had their pool cascade into the pool. The initial plan was to put a Proslide Tornado in the spot back in 2007, but for one reason or another, that plan did not come into fruition. Instead they opted to add the large AquaRacer just across the midway. It seems like the older slides were slated for removal anyways, and they were quietly removed at the same time. These were my favorite slides in the park, but with how wild they were I am sure they were a huge liability. The landing pool was then converted into some sort of game thing that I never played and then later a club area if I am not mistaken. Anyways, here is the always awesome view of Talon from the waterpark, circa 2006.

Below you can see how the area looks now, opened up for a nice sitting area with a great view of Talon. (Both photos below are from the Dorney Park Fan Club)

If you compare this photo with the first photo, you can see how lots of new paint and rethinking of the area has created a much nicer environment.

Below are the original slides that occupied the snake pit location. At one point, a set of body slides also hung off of the side of this old slide complex.

Compared to now with Snake Pit. Big difference! I do not have a photo, but this spot was vacant except for the pool area for seven years. (below two photos from the Dorney Park Fan Club)

Who remembers the old clocks?

Another view of the spot. Big difference!

If we go way back to the beginning of the waterpark, we can see the old watersides with an addition set of body slides on the same complex. These slides are used during the halloween event for props, usually as a sea monster. EDSA Cloward did the engineering on this, as they did for the Universal parks. The mini-golf area is now Island Waterworks. The waterpark was planned out right. Most of the initial infrastructure is still used. This photo is from Newsplusnotes and they got the picture from EDSA Cloward. 

Quiz time for you Dorney fans, what was in this little area out front? (The supports are from Aquablast)

Conneaut Lake Park and Pymatuning State Park, June 1st, 2014 Brit's Birthday!

Don't forget, our June Poll is up on the right hand side of the page. "Who is your favorite classic coaster designer?" 

So....Conneaut Lake! Where to start? Every year I have gone the park has seemed to improve slowly but surely. We had an absolute blast spending the afternoon at the park. There are so many things to do in this laid back place. Brit had surgery two weeks ago and is not quite able to handle coasters yet, but what better place is there to go than Conneaut in that condition? While the Blue Streak is a phenomenal ride, Conneaut has quite a few non-coaster or ride offerings that are very fun. Naturally, the first thing I did was ride the Blue Streak, but the selection of games, the mini-golf course, the boardwalk, the beach, and the views of the lake make this park a really fun place to spend an afternoon.

Here you can see the newly painted and redone entrance gates. These gates were falling apart last year, and as a result of the large service project that I helped take part in, defective wood was replaced and new paint was added. 

 It was a really sunny and beautiful day, with temps that I think were in the low 80s. It was just warm enough that you would bake in the sun. The shade provided by the wonderful trees at the park provide for the perfect setting on a day like this. Judging by the size of the trees, I would bet that many are close to, or over a century old. 

 I enjoy being greeted by two of my favorite rides as I walk in, the Flyers and a Paratrooper. 

The wooded midway is gorgeous. The park has really improved steadily each season and I want to see this progress continuing and some advertising in the Pittsburgh area and the Cleveland, Erie, and Youngstown metro areas to bring more folks to the park. There was a steady amount of people spread out over the park, but there could be even more. 

 The Tumblebug looked beautiful. Lenny and crew were doing some work to one of the drive chains and we missed getting a ride on it this time around.

 Blue Streak station! It was great to see lots of joy on the midway. The park was not crowded by any means, but there were enough folks to make it feel really alive. Great conditions for a relaxing afternoon.

 I usually say no BS, but I will make an exception for Blue Streak.

 Their carousel and shelter are breathtaking. Dating all the way back to 1905, this is the only remaining Harton creation. Harton was the creator of West View Park, the legendary park that was once located just over an hour south of the park outside of Pittsburgh. This is one the oldest carousels at its original park. 

 It is breathtaking and also has seen some paint love recently. 

 Another view of the carousel. It is so pleasant in this wonderful park. 

 Blue Streak!

 I helped rejuvenate the Devil's Den dark ride coaster last season. It was awesome to see the final product. Lenny put even more love into the ride last offseason. You can see more information about the renovation project in this video. I was interviewed regarding the project in that video by Jet 24 ABC Erie.

 The newly redone and upholstered chariots.

 The stunning new mural on the infamous "gum wall."

 The tickets are bought, now it is Blue Streak time!

 This is one of those few times I get to see myself riding since my significant other cannot ride coasters right now. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIT! I am in the last row. I thought I saw a kid in the third row when I was riding. I thought he was blocked by the big third row headrest, but maybe it was a ghost? Either way, it felt like I was alone on the ride. Very fun. Were those headrests original on the train? Did the other NAD Century Flyer trains have those? Did Thunderbolt have those?

 Heading up!

 Getting there!

 Almost there!

 Rush time! I was fully planted into the buzzbar!

 Back!

 Now it is time for games! They have a wide selection of games. Their midway buildings are huge.

 The guy running the games was very entertaining!

 Darts time!

 The kiddieland is one of the best kids areas I have ever seen. They have a ton of rides, it is all shaded in the woods, and more. The kids have a great time and it is also very affordable. The park is a wonderful place to take a family, and an inexpensive alternative with a kids area as good as any.

 Brit with all of the loot!

 Mini-Golf time! It is a very fun mini-golf course where you can watch the Blue Streak the whole time. It is also deep in the woods, which is very nice. Just for some perspective, the Blue Streak is a very large coaster at 78 feet. These trees are at least 90-100 feet. A mature Hemlock Tree reaches about 100 feet and it can take anywhere from 200-300 years to get to that point. I wonder if these trees were planted at some point or if they were original growth. Either way, this section of the park needs to be entirely preserved. I am not a dendrologist, but I love trees and the age and height of these lend them to be preserved. The wood coaster that runs through them needs to be preserved as well. This section should be both a natural and historic landmark area.

Judging by this Postcard of the Conneaut Scenic Railway from CLP Junction, These are the same trees seen in this picture. They were very large back then, towering over the smaller Scenic Railway that was located in the same footprint as Blue Streak. I do not have a date on this postcard, but the coaster lasted from 1909-1936. It was also designed by T.M. Harton, the founder of West View Park and builder of the Conneaut's carousel.

 Look at the snap into that drop. That snap is as good as any coaster. Not many rides have that rapid of an ascent into the drop.

 There goes the train! Not a perfectly timed shot, but there is nothing like watching the art-deco stainless steel NAD Century Flyer trains buzz by. 

 Mini-golf is a blast by itself. Add getting the chance to watch a coaster as you play and you really have an awesome place.

 Here is one of the beautiful Hemlocks

 There goes the train! How many of you can come and fill more trains? This coaster and park need to be preserved and loved. The more I go to this park, the more I love it. It has lots of character.

 Back to the carousel!

 In addition to the Harton carousel, on the left of this shot you can see the shelter for the small Herschell Kids Carousel. I love the signature art deco Herschell stainless steel work on there as well.

 TOT GUN! I was dying laughing

 Off to the Boardwalk

 Lots of folks are dedicated to the park. The Boardwalk area looks awesome

 The area near around the lake was hopping. Folks were having a blast playing music, swimming, and playing volleyball. Fitting that they have a TOT GUN ride AND beach volleyball. They are making a small replacement for the Beach club with a tractor trailer container and a deck. It is in the process of being built, but there is still lots of fun to be had.

 Hotel Conneaut. What a lovely old building.

 We opted to go spend some time at quiet nearby Pymatuning Lake. We set up our chairs at the beach for a while and just took in the sights and sounds. I did not take any photos, but then we went to this landmark, the Pymatuning Spillway, where all of the Carp, Ducks, and Geese congregate in a beautiful preserve. It is the only place in the state of Pennsylvania where it is legal to feed the wildlife. The carp are so plentiful to feed that they actually jump over each other to get the food and the ducks will even walk over the carp fish. I never saw anything like it. 

 Carp fighting over some bread

 Such an awesome place.

 Geese and their young

 The Spillway became an immediate hit when it was built. During the 1930s, one of the favorite activities for families was going and feeding wildlife. It was an inexpensive way to take the family out in the midst of the Great Depression. The Spillway quickly became a famous place during the car age.

 I have never seen anything else quite like this.

 The fish would attempt to jump over the waterfall in both directions.

 Mid-Jump!

 The restaurants and food stores would take their stale bread supplies to the area to sell cheaply and get a return upon otherwise spoiled bread. These are postcards from the 1930s.

 "Where the ducks walk on the fish"

 This was a truly awesome day. If you are in the area of Conneaut, be sure to also check out Pymatuning. The whole area is really beautiful and it provides for a really relaxing and inexpensive day trip away from Pittsburgh. 

I implore you to go check out Conneaut. It is a wonderful little place that is really coming around. The rides are all fun, with many of them one-of-a-kind. It is an inexpensive family park with wonderful folks running it and a beautiful setting. There are lots of activities and rides to fill an afternoon with fun. Go and check it out! This may be the last season if we do not get out there and support the park. 

I have contributed a portion of the sales of my book to the park and as a token given a ticket for a free ride on the Blue Streak. This offer still stands if you order our book using the drop down menu at the top of the page. I am temporarily lowering the price from $21.95 to $15.00 including shipping and a free Conneaut Lake Blue Streak ride ticket with any order if you use the drop down menu at the top of the page. 

Get out and support Conneaut! We cannot afford to lose another part of our heritage and a place where the community can get together.