Cascade Park (amusement park)
Cascade Park Main Entrance
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| Location | New Castle PA |
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| Coordinates | N 40° 58.759 W 080° 19.231 |
| Owner | City of New Castle, PA |
| Opened | May 29, 1897 |
| Park no longer has amusement rides | |
Cascade Park is a nature park and former amusement park in New Castle, Pennsylvania. The park was originally known as Big Run Falls when the area on which the park sits was purchased by Col. Levi Brinton in 1892. Power companies at the turn of the twentieth century found they could make profits developing amusement parks, so in 1897, the New Castle Traction Company (later known as the Pennsylvania Power Company, or Penn Power) bought the property from Col. Brinton. When the company held a contest for the park's name, ten-year-old Edwina Norris won ten dollars for submitting the name Cascade Park. The park opened on May 29, 1897. It is noteworthy that the park was accessible not only via local trolley service but also via the Pittsburgh, Harmony, Butler and New Castle Railway, the Harmony Short Line.
A year after the park opened, its owners added a carousel, baseball park, theater, and dance pavilion, of which the pavilion is still standing. At the time, the dance pavilion was the largest in the state of Pennsylvania. The park's first roller coaster, the Toboggan, was also installed at this time. The year 1899 saw the addition of a zoo, picnic grove, and lake, the latter being created by damming the Big Run Creek which ran through the park. In 1922, the park's original carousel was replaced with one built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company, a carousel which previously was located at Idora Park, Youngstown. A new roller coaster, The Gorge, was also added at around this same time, and by 1925, the park's area had been expanded to 138 acres (0.56 km2) and its midway had 17 rides. Among the rides were:
One of the owner/operators of this early period was Billy Glenn. After he stopped as primary operator of the main attractions, he continued to personally operate his last concession in the park, a popcorn stand.
The year 1934 saw major changes for the park. Penn Power donated Cascade Park to the city of New Castle, stipulating that the area be forever used for public recreation. During the second quarter of the century, park attendance began to decline. The lake, popular for fishing, swimming, and boating, dried up when the Big Run dam broke. In the 1950s, Paul Vesco entered into a contract with the city to operate the park. He removed the original Gorge and replaced it with a new roller coaster of his own design, originally using the same name (Gorge), but several years later changing the name to the The Comet.
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Wikipedia