Derby Race Carousel-Type Rides

As I promised in my last post, Hang on for Steeplechase Rides, this month I'm going to show you carousel rides that feature a derby race as part of the rotation. 

As a refresher, on the right is a 1926 image taken at Calgary, Alberta and shows a young girl on an ordinary carousel. While the deer itself is different, the animals have the usual pole fixed to the top supports, as well as to the carousel floor. Any movement will only be up and down, in time with the music. 

As most people know, however, horses don't move up and down in real life...they run forward.

I was curious to see if I could find an old video of horse racing and was surprised when I found, Race Horse First Film Ever 1878 Eadweard Muybridge. (Edward Maybridge)  Mr. Muybridge's motion photography was one of the earliest forms of videography and showed the action of a horse in motion proving that all four hooves do indeed leave the ground at one time.

I also found footage of 1897 Horse Racing at Sheepshead Bay, and although the quality isn't the best and there's no sound, it was filmed by the Thomas Edison Company with the copyright of Thomas A Edison, July 31, 1897 ...

Unlike steeplechase rides, derby races ran on rotating platforms with operating chains that moved the horses moved forward and back as well as up and down to simulate the movement of real horses in a derby. 

If you look at this 1910 image, the pole of each horse goes down into a long slot on the floor. During the course of the race, each horse moves forward and back in random order, and whoever is farthest ahead at the end of the race is the winner. 

People Riding on a Carousel, about 1910. Courtesy of
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

According to the Carousel History website, Derbies were used to teach riding skills to untrained World War I soldiers. The next two photos show a publicity photo shot at the Great American Racing Derby at Ocean Park.

World War I Soldiers mount up for photo shot at Ocean Park Great American Racing Derby. Courtesy of carouselhistory.com

If you read the original caption on the above photo, it mentions the Looff carousel in the center of the derby. Apparently, the idea was for the children to ride the 4-row Looff carousel, while their parents rode the faster, and more thrilling, derby. Apparently, the Derby rides rotated three times faster than the speed of a carousel.

World War I Soldiers publicity photo taken at Ocean Park Derby. Courtesy of carouselhistory.com

To get a sense of what it's like to ride in a derby, check out this video, which was filmed using a Go-Pro at CedarPoint in Sandusky, OH.

If the horses look familiar, it's probably because it's the same derby used in the publicity shot above when it was called The Great American Racing Derby. In 1969, it was sold to Cedar Point and now races under the name of Cedar Downs.

If you look closely at images of carousels today, you'll see that some of them started out as derby races, but the racing mechanism has been disengaged and the slot boarded up so that only one hole for the pole remains as in this photo: 

The Prior & Church Racing Derby at Playland, Rye, NY, c2014. Courtesy of carouselhistory.com 

The Carousel History website is the best place for information on this subject. Included on the page for Derby Racers is a first hand account about riding Playland's Derby, including this statement, "...Most riders do want to sit on the outside…the best thrill. You cannot be weak, you have to hold on. My arms were tired after the ride.”

The chains that operate the racing mechanism on the derby rides are still in operation at only one amusement park - Cedar Downs, Cedar Point, Ohio. To get a sense of a derby ride without the chains in operation, here's a Derby Racer video uploaded in 2011 from Blackpool, Pleasure Beach, UK. Note that the poles are not lined up side-by-side so it looks like they are racing, but they no longer move. 

I have never had the opportunity to ride in a Derby Racer. Have you?

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Anita Mae Draper's historical romances are woven under the western skies of the Saskatchewan prairie where her love of research and genealogy yields fascinating truths that layer her stories with rich historical details.  Anita's short story, Here We Come A-Wassailing, was a finalist for the Word Guild's 2015 Word Awards. Her novellas are included in Austen in Austin Volume 1, and The American Heiress Brides Collection. Readers can check out Anita's Pinterest boards for a visual idea of her stories to enrich their reading experience.  Discover more at:

Website - www.anitamaedraper.com

Pinterest - www.pinterest.com/anitamaedraper/

A Man’s Home Is His Castle…At Least for This Man

By Pamela S. Meyers

It's time for another stop on our tour of the mansions of old along the shores of Geneva Lake in Wisconsin. So many beautiful 19^th century homes were built on the shoreline, many of which were either destroyed by fire or have been victims of “teardowns." Situated only a couple hours train ride from Chicago, most of the homes were vacation homes for the movers and shakers of the city during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. And even today, you will recognize many family names from the list of current owners.

While I was growing up in the town of Lake Geneva, I never heard of E.B. Meatyard, although he was a very influential man during his time. Also known as Major Meatyard, a designation that harkened back to his serving in the Civil War with the 27^th Illinois unit, Meatyard aggressively bought available land, up to approximately 730 acres. One plot included property along Geneva Lake’s south shore up to Cedar Point, and running north of the lake, across what became known as Highway 50, to a much smaller body of water called Lake Como. He also purchased 240 acres near Walworth, WI, which is located a few miles off shore at the west end of the lake. Meatyard also held land in Shipman, Illinois where a large mine was located.

 

19th Century yachts meeting the train at Wms. Bay.

E.B. Meatyard was mostly known for being an inventor of sorts, holding many patents on ideas for improving the design of railroad cars. His interest in railroading carried over to his being instrumental in getting the train track that ran from Chicago to Lake Geneva, five miles to the east, extended to Williams Bay, the small village located on the bay of the same name. With the train depot located directly across the road from the lake, the inlet provided a perfect location for the lakeshore residents to meet their private yachts after deboarding the train from Chicago. In the postcard pictured here, Meatyard's property included most of the land on the east shore of the bay, which is in the background. That land today is Cedar Point Park subdivision.

Meatyard's home design was unique thanks to its castle-like “topper” on the roof, which earned it the term “castellated villa.” The descriptive term was well known in the 19^th century because many large homes were being built to look like castles. However, Meatyard preferred the more refined title of Lawn Glen for his dream home. In the picture, you can see how a castle-like design was applied to the top floor, while the rest of the home appears to be of a more traditional design. Stories also circulated that a moat circled the home, but in this picture there doesn’t appear to be one.

Sadly, his days of enjoying the fruits of his labors didn't last. His Shipman IL mines never made a profit and before long, they were closed down. Meatyard was forced into bankruptcy and his Wisconsin properties were sold off to pay the mine's bills. He died penniless within a year.

The expansive property was then divided up between several purchasers. The purchaser Meatyard's Lawn Glen didn’t share the same taste in home design with Meatyard and built his own residence on the western end of the property, calling it Alpine Villa. He assigned the “castle” to his property superintendent. The “castle” burned down two years later and it isn't known where the employee lived after that.

Some years later, the the plots of land that once made up the entire Meatyard estate were once again brought back together to form the Cedar Point Park subdivision that occupies the whole eastern shore of Williams Bay. It remains today a very desirable place to live with homes that are individual and updated, some directly on the lake and others sharing a green space that opens out to the lakeshore. 

If you take one of the excursion boat tours you will hear the announcer mention a home once owned by the Schwinn family (think bicycles). Along with the name Cedar Point Park, you can enjoy knowing about the original owner of the property who once built a castellated villa there. And maybe it really did have a moat. After all, a story has been handed down that while excavating for a new building on the property an old foundation was uncovered that appeared to have a moat around it. 

Have you ever seen a castellated home? 

Resource: Lake Geneva, Newport of the West, Volume 1; Ann Wolfmeyer & Betsy Burns Gage.

A native of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, author Pamela S. Meyers lives in suburban Chicago with her two rescue cats. Her novels include Thyme for Love, which has recently been rereleased on Amazon and her 1933 historical romance, Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Her newest novel, Second Chance Love, is scheduled to release January 2017. When she isn’t at her laptop writing her latest novel, she can often be found nosing around Wisconsin and other Midwestern spots for new story ideas.