Early 1900 Playground Slides

Last year while researching for my post, Unique Merry-Go-Rounds, I happened upon information and fascinating images of early playground equipment. The images show the fearless freedom of children who didn't have parents or guardians watching their every move. Although yesteryear was fraught with the danger of falling off the high playground structures of the day, kids crawled, hung and swung to their heart's content - or until their mother yelled out that it was time to come home for supper, or bed. 

It's time to confess however, that I was caught royally when I read a blogpost that showed three extremely long boards with children sitting on them with the caption that, "Historians have discovered photos of what's thought to be the world's first children's slide." At first I believed them since the source was the trusted bbc.co.uk. Then the same story was published in the Daily Mail. When I checked Wikipedia, however, I discovered that the claim seemed to come from a playground manufacturing company and that the information was disputed by people who knew of existing playground slides. 

One of those earlier slides was presented in the Wikipedia article which showed this image taken in 1921 of school children on a slide at the East Texas State Normal College. Historically, Normal School/College was a training school for teachers and the children in the photograph are under the care of teachers-in-training.

Schoolchildren on a slide at the East Texas State Normal College Training School in 1921

East Texas State Normal College. Source: Wikipedia.

This next photograph was taken in March 1917 showing play-time at the Oklahoma School for the Blind in Muskogee, Oklahoma. The caption insists that the photos were not posed and that the children in their care have a great deal of freedom. Why do you think someone felt it important enough to put on the caption?

March 1917, Play-time at the Oklahoma School for the Blind. Children have a great deal of freedom (Ellis report). Photos were not posed. Location: Muskogee, Oklahoma / Lewis W. Hine. Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

And what about this triple slide photographed in 1917 at Taylor Playground, New Orleans, Louisiana. It's another image from Wikimedia Commons and shows that playground slides must have been around for several years to show this level of expertise.

Taylor Playground, New Orleans, 1917, with triple slide. Source: Wikimedia Commons

In the first couple decades of the 20th century many large department city stores had inside, or rooftop, playgrounds featuring slides and merry-go-rounds. I wanted to show you a couple examples, but couldn't find one that wasn't copyrighted. These store playgrounds existed so that moms could shop without the distraction of children. 

On the topic of elaborate slides, I was quite surprised when my research turned up the 1932 Fun-Ful Playground Equipment catalog by Hill-Standard Co. I thought tube slides were a recent invention - probably because all the ones I've seen have been made with plastic, but the catalog says this tunnel slide was one of their recent numbers. 

Tunnel Slide from the 1932 Fun Ful Playground Equipment Catalog. Source: Archive.org

Spiral Slide from the 1932 Fun Ful Playground 

Equipment Catalog. Source: Archive.org

From the same Fun-Ful catalog comes this image of a Spiral Slide. Upon seeing it, my first thought was that if this was 8-10 yrs down the road, the steel would have gone into the making of munitions rather than playground equipment.

For those interested, the Fun-Ful catalog is available online as a PDF through archive.org.

All these pictures prove to me that the slide has been around a lot longer than 1922 as mentioned at the top of this post. It also proves that there is a lot of information on the internet and you must check several sources for accuracy. In this case, two sources were inaccurate and I stress how important it was to find that third source which opened the door to many more.

To finish off, here's a fun pic I found in the Library of Congress online Prints and Photographs Division. It's Sistie and 'Buzzie' Dall, children of Mr. and Mrs. Dall, and grandchildren of President and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, playing on equipment in the White House playground. Doesn't Sistie look like she's enjoying herself?

1933, First photograph of Roosevelt Grandchildren at play on White House grounds. Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington DC

A slide can be as simple as a board, and as elaborate as those found in the biggest waterpark. Do you like to slide? Care to share?

~~~~~~~

Anita Mae Draper's historical romances are woven under the western skies of the Saskatchewan prairie where her love of research and genealogy yield 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, The American Heiress Brides Collection, and The Secret Admirer Romance 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/

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?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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/

Hang On for Steeplechase Rides

While looking at early 1900 clips for today's Steeplechase post, I found this 2 minute video that shows the action of a giant merry-go-round similar to the Luna Park one I showed in my last post, Unique Merry-Go-Rounds. It's right at the beginning of this video, Let's Go Coney! Island (1932) and used courtesy of British Pathe TV which has an extensive library of documentaries, movies and historical clips like this on YouTube.

Images of Steeplechase rides fascinate me because the closest I've seen at present day midways are usually the type where you squirt water, or roll balls, into a funnel-type hole and the amount of balls, or pressure, moves your horse, or other animal, racing across the booth. But watching a horse race, and riding a horse in a race, are totally different experiences. 

Steeplechase rides involved full-size horses which raced around an inside-outside track that often ran the circumference of the amusement park. They were fast, cozy rides where wooing men could hug their sweethearts as a safety feature without fear of reprisal. Children rarely rode alone, and safety straps weren't used until the third or fourth decade of the 20th century.

This black and white undated image from Wikimedia shows the Steeplechase Ride in action at Coney Island, New York. 

The Steeplechase Ride, Steeplechase Park, Coney Island, NY, undated. Courtesy of Wikimedia

This next image is a postcard of the same steeplechase ride at Coney Island, but with a different view. Also called derby races, they were the closest ride one could get to racing without a live horse, although derby rides were mostly used on carousels. (I'll cover carousel derby races in my next post on October 5th.)

Steeplechase Ride, Steeplechase Park, Coney Island, NY, undated postcard

The Steeplechase Ride at Steeplechase Park opened in 1898 with 8 tracks, but a large fire consumed it in 1907. The rebuilt ride reopened in 1909 with 8 tracks as well, but they were on two levels of four each. Somewhere around the 40's and 50's one of the levels was taken down and the ride ran with 4 tracks until the park closed in 1964. It never reopened. 

The following 33 second clip of the Steeplechase Mechanical Horse Ride at Steeplechase Park is fun to watch, either here, or on the YouTube site where you can read the comments of people who actually rode this ride back in the day. I can't quote them here, but it's very interesting that the ride was fast and there wasn't much to hang on to. 

The Forest Park Amusement Park in Chicago, Illinois contained the only Steeplechase Ride in the midwest. Built in 1909, the 6-track ride was gravity-driven whereby the wooden horses were pulled up the incline by chain, and then allowed to glide down and around the track like a coaster. Since the more weight the horse carried, the faster it went, romance-hungry couples used the ride as a way to squeeze tight without raising eyebrows. 

Finish on Steeple Chase, Forest Park, Chicago, Illinois, undated. Courtesy of Living History of Illinois and Chicago Digital Library

Forest Park's Steeplechase Ride was half of a mile long and built between the Chutes lagoon and the Giant Safety Coaster, as shown in the following postcard. Both Forest Park postcards are courtesy of Living History of Illinois and Chicago Digital Library.

Steeplechase Ride between Chutes Lagoon and Giant Safety Coaster, Forest Park, Chicago, Illinois, undated. Courtesy of Living History of Illinois and Chicago Digital Library

Although popular, in 1913 Forest Park razed The Steeplechase Ride along with others during restructuring to make room for newer rides. Today, the Eisenhower Expressway cuts across the location where Forest Park's Steeplechase and other rides once provided family entertainment.   (Source: http://livinghistoryofillinois.com/pdf_files/Forest_Park_Amusement_Park.pdf)

A gravity-powered 4-track steeplechase ride, Peck's Prancing Ponies, existed in Old Orchard Beach, Maine from about 1910 onwards. The 1909 patent by Charles F. Peck states, “The invention…will give the passenger a rocking motion similar to that which is obtained by riding a horse without injuring the person or any undue jarring during the manipulation of the device.”

Peck's Prancing Ponies, Sea Side Park, Old Orchard Beach, Maine, undated. 

Peck was right in that it was the nearest thing to riding a live horse, but from the videos and comments of a similar ride at Blackpool, UK, The Steeplechase is a thrilling and scary ride filled with jarring bumps and turns. How do I know? The Blackpool Pleasure Beach website states this: 

Get ready to ride the Steeplechase! Swing your leg over your very own horse and buckle up ready for a race with jumps, twists and turns. The Steeplechase is a one of a kind three lane steel coaster where there can only be one winner!

Under the usual height and physical ability requirements, we see you need the ability to keep your posture under "dynamic conditions" as well as "withstand high G-forces and/or sudden changes in direction of forces." Basically, they are the same as for any high-speed coaster. 

Although the Steeplechase ride at Blackpool wasn't opened until 1977, it is a very good representation of the ones that have been torn down to make room for "improved" rides. Blackpool's version runs 3 parallel tracks for a length of 1500 ft with 30 mph maximum speed reached. 

Here's a video of this modern Steeplechase ride, Steeplechase (Track 2 Green), Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Mounted On-Ride POV, from the viewpoint of a rider using a GoPro attached to the grab handle:



On the other hand, if you want to see what it looks like to someone watching from the sideline, check out this cool video of Steeplechase - Blackpool Pleasure Beach - Off Ride where it looks like they're going very fast and you can hear the kids' screams to match:  




The main difference I see between the original and the modern steeplechase rides is that the older ones weren't banked, therefore you didn't lean in and go smoothly around a corner, but stayed upright for a more jarring experience. And although I wouldn't want to lean over and stare at the pavement forty feet below, or another coaster crossing beneath my feet, I know that it's easier on the body if it's a smooth transition around the bend. 

I sure would like the opportunity to try out a steeplechase ride if I had the chance. 

Would you?


In celebration of this month's release of Austen in Austin Volume Two, I'm giving away either a print or digital copy (winner's choice) of Austen in Austin Volume One to one person who leaves a comment on this post before midnight, Sunday September 11th. 

Like the Austen in Austin Facebook page and keep up to date on all the giveaways of Volume One and Two.

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/