Spatial and temporal enclaves remote from everyday life, amusement parks are among the favorite recreational places of Americans, who imported the concept from Europe, developed it into a major artifact of American popular culture and have successfully re-exported it throughout the world since the 1980s. Amusement parks not only provide an abundance of entertainment to visitors by featuring roller coasters, Ferris wheels, carousels, games, food, and shows, but also have promoted very contested models of ideal future societies and utopian communities, especially since the creation of Disneyland in 1955.
Contemporary amusement parks are the descendants of medieval trade fairs and European pleasure gardens of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Originally expressing an idyllic Arcadian life within increasingly industrialized urban landscapes, later pleasure gardens displayed additional features such as live entertainment, exotic architecture, impressive lighting, fireworks, dancing, games, and even primitive amusement rides. However, as their popularity grew, they also attracted undesirable guests such as prostitutes, rakes, smugglers, and thieves, and the development of criminal activities caused many of these gardens to close.
At the end of the nineteenth century, the growth of the amusement park industry shifted to the United States, benefiting greatly from the Chicago's Columbian Exposition of 1893, which introduced the key elements of modern amusement parks. The World's Fair unveiled the first Ferris wheel and the exotic enticements of the Midway Plaisance but, more significantly, it pioneered the model of an enclosed, illusory, and temporary utopian world produced by architects, engineers, and planners. Disconnected from its urban and social environment, the White City allowed its visitors to temporarily escape from reality and experience the magic dream of a perfect future relying on technological progress. Following this example, Captain Paul Boynton opened Chutes Park in Chicago in 1894, the first enclosed amusement park charging an admission fee; a solution that allowed for the exclusion of criminal elements. One year later, he opened Sea Lion Park at Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York, which inspired numerous amusement parks in the United States, including the three Great Coney Island parks.
Coney Island embodied the American amusement park tradition from the 1890s until the mid-1950s. In 1875, the completion of the Andrew Culver's Prospect Park and Coney Island Trailway had transformed Coney Island from a traditional seaside resort into a popular playground. Steeplechase Park (1897-1964), Luna Park (1903-1947), and Dreamland (1904-1911) attracted millions of working-class New Yorkers who enjoyed the intense thrills provided by the roller coaster and other mechanical devices, and the fabulous atmosphere of fantasy, sensuality, and chaos created by the extravagant architecture, incredible illuminations, and disorienting attractions. Coney Island offered an escape from a mundane existence and a sense of release from the responsibilities of adulthood.
Increasing leisure time and disposable personal income, as well as the development of electric trolley lines in major American cities, initiated a tremendous growth of the amusement park industry over the next three decades. By building amusement parks at the end of trolley lines, trolley magnates stimulated weekend ridership, thus generating additional revenues and maximizing the flat monthly rate charged by the electric light and power companies. The first "trolley parks" consisted of picnic groves located in a pastoral landscape, but quickly, dance halls, restaurants, games, and a few amusement rides were added for the pleasure and entertainment of the patrons. These amusement parks became immediately successful among all social classes and, by 1920, over 1,800 operated in the United States. Unfortunately, the golden age did not last. In 1998, only twelve trolley parks remained.
The beginning of the 1920s marked the beginning of the dramatic decline of traditional amusement parks. With the new mobility provided by automobiles and the lack of parking facilities at the urban parks, visitors turned to new activities and attractions such as motion pictures or more independent leisure travel. In addition, Prohibition (of alcohol), some years of bad summer weather, the acquisition of parks by private individuals, the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression caused the closing of numerous parks. By 1939, only 245 amusement parks still remained, struggling to survive. World War II further hurt the industry, but the postwar baby boom and the creation of "kiddielands" allowed for a short resurgence of prosperity. Nevertheless, the radical cultural changes occurring in the 1950s made amusement parks obsolete. The industry could not face the competition from shopping centers and television entertainment, suburbanization of the middle class, intensifying racial tensions, gang conflicts, and urban decay. Most of the traditional amusement parks closed. The modern amusement park would soon appear. The new concept was a fantastic dream of Walt Disney, which cost $17million to build.
