The Former Valley Park/National Amusement Park/Harmarville Park, Blawnox, PA

This write up is very article heavy. I am not finding archived photos of anything. It seems like it was a really big operation. 

A 1927 naming competition for a new park? Oak heavy? It is a shame they seem to be mostly gone. 

Today:

This park was located at about the same point on the Allegheny River as Kennywood is on the Monongahela River. 

1927 naming contest: "Harmarville Park." The name was submitted by someone from the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, the place the Brit and I call home.

So we see the three names of the park: Harmarville Park, Valley Park, and National Amusement Park. It is strange that they had three different names for it.

1928 Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Contest for a park slogan:

Convention at the park in 1928

May 26th, 1929: Pittsburgh Post Gazette

And just like that, we have a mystery on our hands. Not much information/documentation exists about this park. This may be one of the most tangible things that we can see that a park once existed in this spot. The location is a picturesque spot along the Allegheny. It was located in Blawnox, PA near Pittsburgh. All indications say that this was the location. On one side is the current RIDC Industrial Park, and on the other is an apartment tower. The Allegheny River flows next to the property. 

Next to the park was the Allegheny Workhouse, a hard labor prison for hard criminals and the severely mentally disabled. A full working farm and orchard, and it was located on the expansive prison property. 

What we do know is that the park had a coaster designed by John Miller that is claimed to have been the "speediest in existence." We have no documents about coaster. If anyone does, please let me know. Judging by the looks of this photo, it seems that this ravine traversing coaster may have had a lot in common with the GCI "Wood Coaster" in China. Very ahead of its time. An urban legend says that this coaster succumbed to fire by arson from the family of someone who lost a loved one on the coaster, even though we have no documentation on this. Our article about a fire at the park says that the coaster was spared. Nothing is said about the demise of the park though in the newspaper.

Mill Chute Ride, a popular ride during this time period.

If there was a park fire, was this a case of arson by someone at the prison? Was this arson the case of a rival park trying to take them down? If there was not a fire, starting a park in 1929, with the huge expenses incurred through building a coaster to open the park, it does seem likely that the park could have closed with the changing economic situation during the Great Depression. 

1928 advertisement for workers:

This blurb from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette in 1928 advertises fireworks at the park, along with the Thunderbolt coaster, and ballroom dancing, nothing too far out of the ordinary for a park in that time period.

1930 was when things really tanked with the Great Depression. To entice visitors, the park showed free movies. Those darn suspected wets up in the Chautauqua/Jamestown, NY area were getting illegally searched by some agents too. The Depression and Prohibition. Bad times all around!

September 1930: A devastating fire sweeps through the park and levels thirteen buildings, including bowling alleys and a bingo hall. I wonder why more parks no longer offer indoor attractions like bowling alleys and banquet halls for some offseason revenue. The article says that the Thunderbolt was spared.

July of 1930. As with many other parks in this time period, it appears that vendors operated different attractions in the park. A dog racing track was there and appears to have gone into receivership, an extremely common occurrence during the Depression. I am not sure how much of a connection they had to the park. Not much information exists here after this point, but different sources around the web pinpoint this park having closed in the early 1930s. This may have been a final nail for the park. 

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After a brief closure, the dog racing track reopened with a futile attempt at running with betting banned, but it thankfully seems to have finally died in 1931.

1931 saw plans for a boxing bowl to take the place of the track. These plans did not come to fruition. This article is interesting for it talks about other area boxing venues. The guy who owned Motor Square Garden, made the new plans. It is clear that there were some seedy things going on right at and around the park.

With it being torn down in 1932. It seems there was someone eying up that land for development at the time. It should be noted that the Guyasuta name lives on through the nearby Boy Scout's camp, Camp Guyasuta.

It seems that the park still lived on after the dog racing track was torn down. This article from 1932 shows a band playing at the park. Other small blurbs mention skating as a popular activity at the park. So far we have a roller coaster, carousel, bowling, roller skating, music, dancing, and other fun activities. It seems like this place was quite an entertainment venue.

So we have a mention of roller skating at the park in 1937. We don't have any mentions of the roller coaster though. 

The next article I can find with a mention about the park is from 1943 about a car accident near "the old National Park on Freeport Road." So we know it closed sometime between 1937 and 1942. Hmmmm. The more I find, the less answers I seem to have. What we do know is the date of the park closing around 1930 is incorrect, and that it closed as the result of a fire.

The grounds today:

1947 and the park is long gone. In this image from Historic Aerials you can see the outline of the dog racing track still.

1952 and suburban sprawl came along! It is interesting to see American history progress shown on this plot of land.

It is tough to image that such a grand coaster and recreational venue once operated in this super quiet area. One of the hundreds of amusement parks that have failed within their first ten years. The Pittsburgh area has lots of those.

The Former Morado Park, Beaver Falls, PA

A long time ago, Beaver Falls was a buzzing industrial hub. Now many of the remnants of that time period remain standing frozen in time. The jewel of this small city is Geneva College, a small Presbyterian Liberal Arts College that seems like it has a perfect little campus. Many other areas of the city appear to be frozen in time. Some small industry remains, but the bulk of it has not been reclaimed yet. Pollution still hampers the town as well, with drillers upstream dumping toxic chemicals into the Beaver River.

With Beaver Falls being the smoky and gritty city that it was, Morado Park offered a place for the townspeople to getaway to a quiet place. The park was opened in 1891 by the Beaver County Traction company. It was primarily a picnic ground that is said to have had a carousel and lots of groves. It is also said to have a swimming area in the Beaver River, which I cannot imagine the pollution that these people were taking in as they swam. As was the case with most of these turn of the century amusement parks, one of the primary attractions was a dance hall that was the site for nightlife during that time period. It seems as if the dance hall stayed open after the park closed and was turned into a skating rink. It is not standing anymore though.

Postcard image from Lawrence County Memoirs

The park closed in 1937, surprisingly longer than most of these old trolley parks. Everything I am finding shows that the only ride this park had was a carousel. The make is unknown and it is also unknown if the park had other rides. It would not be a surprise to me if the park had more rides than that, because the legendary Harry Traver came around and his Traver Engineering Company was founded in 1919 and located just down the street. I would imagine that Traver would find it convenient to have a nearby show park for his creations. The closest confirmed park to Traver Manufacturing was Cascade Park in New Castle, which once boasted a Tumblebug and a Circle Swing ride. No Circle Swing Rides remain, and only two Tumblebugs remain, one at Conneaut Lake Park and the other at Kennywood Park. It would not surprise me if one of these Traver contraptions was built at Morado. 

Here is a view looking towards the park. I am not sure where the boundary was, but this was either in the park, or looking towards the park.

 I am not sure if the park extended this far, but this sad little shopping center that seems to be completely vacant, sits on this spot. As I said, Beaver Falls feels like it is frozen in time.

Seeing these old theater signs with "Thank You" messages is always really depressing. 

Anyways...You would have no clue that an amusement park was once located around this spot. 

Conneaut Lake Park Wintry Views

Our destination for Valentine's Day Weekend was the Hotel Conneaut for their Valentine's Day Dinner and lodging. Valentine's Day doubles as our anniversary as a couple. Six years together and we will be getting married in July! 

The staff was accommodating for our overnight stay. This 122 year old Hotel has quite a bit of charm. If you are expecting a five star resort, this is not the place, but if you love history and beautiful views, you will love this place. You can see more photos on our Interesting Pennsylvania page.

The carousel and Blue Streak station. 

 The Carousel pavilion.

 The Devil's Den dark ride, the only remaining gravity fed Pretzel Dark Ride.

 The midway

 The NAD train on the Blue Streak.

 The majestic front of an NAD train. 

 The Blue Streak lift hill, minus a few feet from the giant snow drifts....

 The Turtle, one of only two remaining Traver Tumblebugs in operation.

 This is what a drop with ridiculous airtime looks like!

Now over to the parking lot side of the park. Here you can see the Chance Toboggan. This is going to get moved at some point in the future. In the mean time it is sitting and waiting to be moved. I would love to see this get used in the park again, or any park again, for it is one of only three that remain. It would be cool to see this go out onto the carnival circuit again.

 Welcome!

 The Blue Streak is threatened right now. I hope it remains for generations to come. Everything at this point looks like the park will be opening again in May.

 Turn around! The turnaround was originally designed by Vettel to be only roughly six feet from the ground. It was redesigned at one point by John Allen of PTC to be raised after the turnaround was found to be too intense for the average rider. This is a white knuckled thrill machine. I challenge you to ride in the backseat the next time you go to the park. 

And off we go again!

The park is set to open on May 22nd, according to the park's brand new website.

Waldameer Wintry Views and Waterpark Expansion Update

This weekend we went up to the Erie region for a relaxing Valentine's Day weekend. Our first stop was the Tom Ridge Environmental Center at Presque Isle State Park and Waldameer.

What do the foxes at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center say?

 "Check out the view!" Whoa! Ravine Flyer II is always stunning to look at. The way they fit this twisted masterpiece through the valley of this ravine is nothing short of amazing. 

 It was a really snowy day. The snow was picking up as we took these shots. I can't wait to ride this airtime filled giant again come spring time. You can't beat the succession of sharp curves, giant drops, and assortment of wicked airtime.

 Here is the powerful turnaround. The blue that you can see through the supports is the bridge that goes over the Peninsula Drive four lane highway.

 You can't beat the view from the top of this 115 foot drop, looking over Lake Erie and the peninsula of Presque Isle State Park. 

 The Ferris Wheel greets us on National Ferris Wheel day, a day of rest for all Pennsylvania Ferris Wheels.

 The turnaround as seen from the bird observation area at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center.

Now we take a look at the construction for the 2015 waterpark expansion and new entry gate. This area will look completely different come opening time. A large portion of the parking lot is now going to house a wave pool and new entrance gate. In coming years there will be a bunch of new waterslides added as well.

 The new building will house changing facilities and food concession.

 The fence on the edge is the new park boundary. The new entrance will be off to the right of where this photo was taken from. There will still be parking in the area beyond the fence.

 In between the top of the green slide and the pavilions, you can see where the new entry way will be. It is currently under construction under covers to protect it from the elements.

 Here you can see the new changing facilities and food stand.

Here is the wave pool under construction. Blizzard conditions on a Saturday did not stop the workers from plugging away. The wave pool is being built with two tiers and a peninsula to boost capacity on more busy days, and to have the ability to close one side and lower costs on slower days. The wave pool is an exact copy of a wave pool at Holiday World. Look for new waterslides around this wave pool in coming years. 

Our next stop will be a journey through Presque Isle State Park here on our other page, and then we will head down to Conneaut Lake Park to spend the evening in the Hotel Conneaut and get some views of the park after this blizzard.

One more view of Ravine Flyer!