The first major fire at Paragon struck in 1911, leveling all of the buildings from the entrance south along Nantasket Avenue to what would become Park Avenue. In the aftermath of the fire, a new dance hall and roller coaster were constructed in the front of the park. Paragon Park was an amusement park located on Nantasket Beach in Hull, Massachusetts. Youd once drive into Hull on George Washington Boulevard and watch the horizon for the rising coaster in the distance; now, its a monstrous condo building. Long time ago. Magnificent as it was, Wonderland may have grown too quickly to support itself. Too bad theyre all just sweet memories now. I think you put money in and got some kind of fortune on a card. I wonder if anyone remembers the Pine Island Park in NH. Yes ! Paragons next major milestones arrived in 1963, when three separate fires swept through the area. Whalom Park! What are two most common biomes in Africa? We lived in Rockland when I was very young and could see that often. If my memory serves me, there was a airplane ride that soared over the lake ! http://themeparks.about.com/library/coasters/blwildone.htm If youre on Facebook theres a Paragon Park Memories page you might enjoy too: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paragon-Park-Memories/103289636409972. If your birthday was in the summer (mine wasnt), a party there was something to anticipate all year. Loved going to Rocky Point sometimes just for the chowder and clam cakes but always ended up in the amusement park. Flag item for content or copyright About this Item. One year I went to Rocky Point Amusement part, this would have to be about 1984-1985 and my Dad at the time worked for Sealtest Ice Cream and they would have a big summer thing down there and we would spend the day first doing carnival activities hosted by the company, then spend the rest of the day at the park. (A fun bit of trivia: The first words ever spoken into a telephone by a U.S. president were uttered at Rocky Point, during an 1877 visit by Rutherford Hayes. Also brought my kids to Mt. Date Posted: 8/23/2009 2:00:02 PM. Roller skating, rides, swimming even a boat that gave rides around the lake. Im so glad that these cool old places- even when theyre unfortunately gone, hold a special place in folks lives. In one incident, a man fell into a pond. Mom would always say well have to start saving our pennies, and we did. We would make sure to hit every ride and try our luck at the various games of chance as well. Where is the Paragon Park roller coaster now, given this? i lived in hull for 7 yrs between 1971 and 1978 best years of my life were spent there at paragon park and was sorry when the big developers came in and tore it down what a shame. 1950s. I still remember feeling sad for this elephant who had a steel cuff on its leg and was chained to the floor. It would be two years before Stone and Golden would be able to assume full control of the park, canceling the lease that had been signed in 1919 and making improvements to the fire-ravaged amusement center. We used to ice skate at the pond by the fire station and enjoyed swimming at the jetty. My parents brought me and I brought my kids. 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. Paragon Park is where I spent almost every summer night. Wild Mouse was a B. We were bused to school at Hingham. Also Lincoln Park in North Dartmouth, MA, where I remember riding the roller coaster 13 times in a row with a friend! Fun fact: a couple of fires over the years changed the configuration of The Giant Coasters track, but it was a fire at another park in St. Louis that allowed Paragon Parks owner to buy a couple of cars from a coaster named The Comet, which is why some of the cars on The Giant Coaster had Comet on them. Those poor animals. Rebecca thanks for visiting Retro Roadmap, and best of luck with your novel. Chris Haraden lecture - The History of Paragon Park, Official Site of the Paragon Park Carousel, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paragon_Park&oldid=1135406011, Buildings and structures in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Defunct amusement parks in the United States, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 24 January 2023, at 13:40. Most fun ever as I grew up in Fitchburg. There was also a ski lift-type ride called the Sky Lark, an automobile-themed ride known as "Turnpike Cars" (replaced by a different ride in the 1970s called the "Indy 500"), and a water ride called "Bermuda Triangle" (formerly the "Congo Cruise," the "Jungle Ride," the "Red Mill", and the "Mill Rapids"). WHAT IS IT? Copyright 2021 Retro Roadmap. Our school also had our senior prom there. It was small, but close to home, so we got there often! I believe Lake Compounce still there. Not only was the band funny, but exceptional musicians . It remained so until 1925, when it was topped by two feet by the Revere Beach Cyclone just down the road. The 25.9-acre amusement park the nations 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. Bemsons was my other favorite with animals and rides. Here are 10 Disney movies that we think would make particularly great theme park rides, whether it be a dark ride, flume ride, or rollercoaster. Storybook characters, a pirate ship and Dodge City with a saloon and stagecoach holdups were among the attractions. It was in Killingly, many miles north and east, and my parents had a cranky little boy on their hands. I have fond memories of the Gay Dolphin Gift Cove, and asked her to check it out when shes in the area. It is called the Wild One now. Chuck Lawrence. My parents had season tickets on Tuesday nights for years. Yes. Opened by the Fitchburg & Leominster Street Railway on the shores of Lake Whalom in 1893, Whalom Park would be known as one of the 15 oldest amusement parks in the United States by the time it closed for good in 2000. The midway featured games of skill and chance and performances by Hugo Zacchini, aka the Human Projectile. And I can still hear the excited screams of the daring roller coaster riders now. Doesnt anyone remember two of the most popular parks in CT Savin Rock in New Haven, CT and Pleasure Beach in Bridgeport, Ct that was a lot smaller than the Rock but had one of the best ballrooms in the country with constant top named performing bands in attendance. Best wishes, and thanks for stopping by. Wow spent every summer thare as a kid into my teenage yrs. I grew up in the 80s and 90s in rhode island and Rocky Point was an amazing amusement park. Glad when it finally close and that gorilla was sent to a sanctuary down south and CNN showed the gorilla touching grass for the first time in over 25 years. We had so much fun. 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. Think classic American road trip and the name Route 66 will undoubtedly come up sooner rather than later, and for good reason. Subsequent owners added various entertainments, including a baseball field on which Babe Ruth once played. Is this all about Massachusetts or not? All I was left with besides a footprint on my backside for not taking more, better photos, when I did have the time, were my memories of having an all day pass discounted by collecting match book covers stapled to my shirt hem and spending the day riding the kiddie cars, the Congo Cruise, the merry go round and more, playing skee ball in the arcade and eating ice cream on a hot summer day. My dad worked there. I would show up at the ride with a girl and they would give me a boat all to ourselves. There are over 297 million people in the United States alone that have had the opportunity to ride 1.7 billion different amusement park rides, most of which being roller coasters. Dartmouths Child World Store Was Way Better Than Toys R Us, Dartmouth Bootleggers Role in Ending Prohibition, Dartmouth Responds to Homelessness [TOWNSQUARE SUNDAY], Cheers to National Margarita Day at These SouthCoast Spots, Dartmouth Man Pledges $25,000 to Shawmut Diner Rehab, Dartmouth To Be Home Of First SouthCoast Crumbl Cookies, New Bedford Shawmut Diner Donor to Bristol County Sheriff: Use It or Give It Back, Dartmouth School Bus Rear-Ended in Morning Crash, Have Heart-Shaped Pizza Delivered This Valentines Day. My first job was parking cars in the lot across the street. And as young teens roller skating. We moved to Gulf Breeze, FL and several years later they started . I loved the carousel. Romantic Totem Pole with sofas next to table lamps, and one time, the Spike Jones Band. Dad saw Mom and went over and told her he was going to marry her. For one that could never do twirly rides I loved the roller coaster the best. one year it was HOT and we were gorging on clam cakes at the end of the day but decided one more ride cant hurt.. the one that starts leve and ends up having the rider flying upside down. In 1916, park owner George A. Cyndinow living in South Jersey but always a New Englander. Now its a shopping center. Shore dinners especially the clamcakes. Most of the time, news of an injury or death at a theme park involves a roller coaster. On a dark winter evening homeward-bound in the front passenger seat in our '53 Chevy after Christmas shopping at the Paragon Park's Arcade Bazaar - a warehouse-like fluorescent-lit discount toy store in Nantasket Beach - my mom told me the heartbreaking truth about Santa Claus. Worked there for a while after graduation. Dodge commissioned the Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC) to create a new coaster. I did not know that, thanks Larry! Hi Joanne, I skated most every week end at the roller rink, Lil and her husband were great. Crowds dwindled in the 1970s, and the park finally closed following the 1977 season. What wouldnt be kept in town, however, were the rides and equipment that now stood in the way of the Plaza at Paragon Park. The doll has to be from the fiftys because my aunt died, and she was 81 when she died in 1992. The last roller coaster-related death in the country was reported in 2007, when an axle on a car broke during a ride in Expoland in Osaka and sent the roller coaster crashing into a guardrail. David Goran is one of the authors writing for The Vintage News Paragon Park was great, noise, lights, smells(mostly good) the ocean, good times. Im now in what you would call the elderly stage of my life (Im almost 77). 1 g per cup Kelloggs Corn, Why do blackberries have such a bitter flavor? Neither of their two children expressed an interest in carrying on the family business. We used to go there every year for my birthday which is in June! Thank you for the wonderful memories. 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. Statistics are an important factor to take into consideration when you begin riding an ample amount of roller coasters. Retro Roadmap Photo Archives- Do These Places Look Familiar To You? A Thanksgiving Day fire at nearby Nantasket Pier destroyed most of the fleet of steamboats that carried passengers to and from Boston. Photo, Print, Drawing Roller coaster, [Paragon Park], Nantasket Beach, Mass. remember the steamboat that was just before the park coming into hull?? A 14-year-old girl has died after a roller coaster car came off the track at an amusement park in Denmark. A trip to Rocky Point was the highlight of our summers in the 1950s. Back before we moved to Connecticut in the. I remember going to an amusement park, I thought we walked there from the rental. That park put $1 million into renovating the coaster, and it has been refitted and redesigned multiple times over the decades. This is an unused Paragon Park t-shirt from the long defunct amusement park that was located in Nantasket Beach, Hull Ma. Retro Roadmap creator, vintage road trip lover, photo taker, musician's wife and hostess with the mostess! My family lived in Agawam at the time , and on Sat .nights we could hear the cars racing at the track. A wood coaster was just what the park needed for its 10th anniversary, and Predator delivered. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. The Giant Coaster, which was built in 1917 and was removed from the park in 1985, is now known as The Wild One at Six Flags America. The financial difficulties of the Depression weighed heavily on Paragons operations. but still good memories. Ill always remember my trips to Whalom Park with my family and especially the rides on the Whip and Tilt-O-Whirl with my grandfather. Condominiums already were under way on Atlantic Hill and Telegraph Hill, as well as at Spinnaker Island, but in the months following the Paragon announcement, new plans were floated Nantascot Place, River Crossing, and the former Showboat Mayflower property on George Washington Boulevard, Ocean Place, SeaWatch, and Murray Plaza along the beach, the Hall Estate, Damon Place, and the former Worrick Mansion (which would burn to the ground in 1986) on Atlantic Hill, Milford Street, Marina Beach, and One A Street at Waveland, Mariners Landing, Sunset Arms, and the Boathouse at Allerton. I took my children there all the time ides were reasonable for a family. Nantasket Beach, Massachusetts, is an exposed beach break with consistent surf that can be used at any time of year. I felt so sorry for that creature. I grew up in Springfield and would rather go there than its competitor, Riverside Park in Agawamnow Six Flags. My Aunt bought a house near back entrance. Also, not far from the park was the original (and still is) Frank Pepes pizzeria. The Lynn Shore and Nahant Beach Reservations will be charged the same new fees. It was dismantled and completely rebuilt down in Maryland. Within weeks, however, Kahn-Quinn and the Stones had moved up the closing, deciding that opening the gates to souvenir-seekers, litigious loiterers, and potential vandals was too risky. Wonderful memories! In late 1985, they canceled the development all together, and announced that they would sell the beloved carousel at auction 28 days later. With the Stones out of town on vacation, disaster duty fell to Klayman. DeNoto, who now lives in New York, states in the suit that he took his boy to the park on June 26, 2018 because the lad was finally tall enough to ride the coasters. 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. We took our children there when there were young. New owners took over after Bensons death in 1943, and although the park still drew crowds, it had up-and-down years for the next few decades. The coaster shut down when Paragon Park closed in 1984. 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. As recounted in his 1922 obituary, a friend of Dodges invested in what became known as the Nantasket Steeplechase, a collection of amusements licensed from Coney Islands Steeplechase Park that was built on land leased from the Old Colony Railroad. I remember taking the ferry from Rowes Wharf in Boston to Nantasket Beach as a kid. There were daily parades and a scenic railroad, too. He loved the junior rollercoaster! The coaster was sold at auction for $26,000 to Wild World, an amusement park in Prince George's County, Maryland, now known as Six Flags America. Fire struck again in the fall, destroying the Chateau ballroom at the rear of the park. Glad to know that the Giant Coaster is still around and can be enjoyed by those who have the stomach for it . Most definitely Riverside in Agawam. The same unwritten rule applied to the Jungle Safari ride (tunnel of love). 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