Idora Park, Youngstown
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Idora Park
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The Dance Hall at Idora Park, c. 1935
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| Location | Sw of the jct. of McFarland and Parkview Aves., Youngstown, Ohio |
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| Coordinates | 41°4′20″N 80°41′6″W / 41.07222°N 80.68500°WCoordinates: 41°4′20″N 80°41′6″W / 41.07222°N 80.68500°W |
| Architect | Harton, T.M., Co.; Philadelphia Toboggan Co. |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival, Moderne, Italianate |
| NRHP Reference # | |
| Added to NRHP | September 13, 1993 |
Idora Park (1899–1984) was a northeastern Ohio amusement park popularly known as "Youngstown's Million Dollar Playground."
Built by the Youngstown Park and Falls Street Railway Company, the park's expansion coincided with the growth of the South Side of Youngstown, Ohio, in the Fosterville neighborhood. Prior to its closure in the wake of a devastating fire, Idora Park was one of the nation's few remaining urban amusement parks.
The park opened as Terminal Park on May 30, 1899, which was Decoration Day (now known as Memorial Day). At that time in America, it was common for amusement parks called trolley parks to sprout at the end of trolley lines to generate weekend revenue. Without an admission fee, anyone who could afford the trolley fare could enter the park. This trolley park's first season presented its guests a bandstand, theater, dance pavilion, a roller coaster, a circle swing, and concession stands. It was later renamed Idora Park.
When a bridge spanning the Mahoning River opened on Youngstown's Market Street on May 23, 1899, the entire South Side was unrolled for development. The trolley line linking the downtown to Idora Park ran south on Market, west on Warren, south on Hillman Street, Sherwood west to Glenwood Avenue, then cruised through Parkview Avenue (west) into the Idora terminal.
One of the park's many attractions was a wooden roller coaster with a length of 3,000 feet (910 m) and the height of 85 feet high was called the Wildcat, which opened in 1930. The state-of-the-art, three-minute ride was hailed by roller coaster connoisseurs across the country. The Wild Cat was designed by Herbert Paul Schmeck, who held 100 patents for roller coaster innovations. In 1984, the Wild Cat was still ranked among the top ten roller coasters in the world.
Another famous attraction to the park was the Jack Rabbit, a wooden roller coaster built in 1910 by TM Harden. It was 70 feet (21 m) tall and 2,200 feet (670 m) long, had a ride time of two minutes and thirty seconds, and was lengthened and recountered in the 1930s. In an attempt to bring people back to the park for the 1984 season, park owners reversed the trains of the Jack Rabbit and renamed it the Back Wabbit.
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