Riverview Park (Chicago)

Template:Short description Template:About Template:Infobox amusement park

Riverview Park was an amusement park in Chicago, Illinois, which operated from 1904 to 1967. It was located on Template:Convert bound on the south by Belmont Avenue, on the east by Western Avenue, on the north by Lane Tech College Prep High School, and on the west by the North Branch of the Chicago River.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It was located in the Roscoe Village neighborhood of Chicago's North Center community area.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Founding

Riverview was established in 1904 by William Schmidt, on the grounds of his private skeet shooting range.<ref name="Kogan">Template:Cite web</ref> The Schmidt family owned and operated the park throughout its lifetime.

"Big Bill" Haywood, the Industrial Workers of the World leader, once spoke here to a crowd of almost 80,000 people.<ref>Rosemont, Franklin (2002) Joe Hill: The IWW & the Making of a Revolutionary Workingclass Culture, Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company</ref>

Rides and attractions

Riverview was famous for The Bobs wooden roller coaster. Other popular coasters were The Comet, The Silver Flash, The Fireball and the Jetstream. Aladdin's Castle was a classic fun house with a collapsing stairway, mazes and turning barrel. Shoot the Chutes, Hades, the Rotor, Tilt-a-Whirl, Wild Mouse, the Mill on the Floss (Tunnel of Love), and Flying Turns were just a few of the many classic rides. "The Pair-O-Chutes at Riverview Park'll shake us up all day" is a line from the Beach Boys' song "Amusement Parks U.S.A." from their 1965 album, Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!). There were over 120 rides in the park.Template:Citation needed

Racism and closing

Riverview closed in 1967. Enduring urban myths describe the park's "seedy" atmosphere in the '60s as it became more integrated.<ref name="Heffernan">Template:Cite web</ref> Contemporaneous articles in black publications such as the Chicago Defender described black patrons being subject to latent and overt racism. The most overt was a longstanding attraction officially named "African Dip" and later truncated to "Dip", but unofficially called "Dunk the Nigger". It was not owned by Riverview, but by an outside concessionaire that rented space from the park. In the 1950s, the NAACP and Chicago newspaper columnist Mike Royko successfully lobbied to shut it down.<ref name="Heffernan"/>

According to Victoria Wolcott, author of the 2012 book Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters:

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Chuck Wlodarczyk, author of Riverview: Gone But Not Forgotten, once performed shows about the park. He noted that people often approached him afterwards to report hearsay of someone raped in the restrooms by a black man. However, no actual record of such crimes exist.<ref name="Heffernan"/> A Chicago Tribune article from late 1967 also blamed violence for the park's closure, although Wolcott said there was little evidence to support this.<ref name="Heffernan"/>

Ultimately, white flight contributed to Riverview's financial decline, making the land on which it was built more valuable than the park itself. The Schmidt family sold to developers and later stated a newspaper's reported estimated sale price of $6.8 million ($Template:Inflation in Template:Inflation/year) was too low.<ref name="Heffernan"/>

The grounds eventually became home to the Riverview Plaza shopping center, the Chicago Police Area 3 Detective Division,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> DePaul College Prep High School,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> dental equipment manufacturer Hu-Friedy Manufacturing, and Richard Clark Park of the Chicago Park District. The south end of Clark Park has a wooded area where many of the Riverview foundations are visible; it's used as a bicycle dirt jump and pump track park maintained by the Chicago Area Mountain Bikers.

A sculpture entitled Riverview by local artist Jerry Peart stands in front of the police station.

Memorabilia

Many items from Riverview, as well as paintings of the park, were displayed at Riverview Tavern (West Roscoe and Damen Avenue) from 2005 - 2018.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Riverview Carousel, the only ride from the park to be saved, continues to operate at Six Flags Over Georgia.<ref>www.sixflags.com</ref>Template:Citation needed

Bally and Williams tie-ins

Bally Manufacturing Corporation and Williams Electronics had their headquarters and primary manufacturing facilities just west of Riverview during the park's later years. Fireball, Bally's 1972 pinball machine, was named after Riverview's Fireball roller coaster. Bally's Aladdin's Castle amusement arcade division (formerly Carousel Time) was renamed to honor the Aladdin's Castle funhouse; the Aladdin's Castle pinball machine was similarly inspired.

Williams Electronics' pinball games Comet (1985) was named after a Riverview roller coaster, and Screamo (1959) showed various rides.<ref>Internet Pinball Database: IPDB.org</ref> Williams' 1990 amusement park-themed pinball machine FunHouse was also inspired by Riverview; the Riverview Carousel is depicted on the machine's backglass.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

List of rides


Ride	Year built	Year closed	Manufacturer and ride type	Description
The Bobs	1924	1967	Wooden Roller Coaster
Comet		1967	Roller Coaster
Silver Flash		1967	Roller Coaster
Fireball	1923/1959	1967	Roller Coaster	Originally this was the Blue Streak roller coaster. In 1959 first hill was modified and renamed the Fireball. The ride featured a steep drop that embarked into a tunnel.
Jetstream	1964	1967	Wooden Roller Coaster Philadelphia Toboggan Company	Jetstream replaced the ride Greyhound. It was not as popular as some of the more wild rides at the park. Jetstream was demolished before it was paid off.
Aladdin's Castle		1967	Fun house	The mirrors are reportedly at a dance club in PalatineTemplate:Citation needed
Shoot the Chutes		1967	Water Ride	Old fashioned water ride
Hades			Fun house
The Rotor	1952	1967	Orton, Sons & Spooner<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	The Rotor was a spinning ride where the floor dropped out from under riders. They were then held to the wall by centripetal force.
Tilt-a-Whirl			Tilt-a-Whirl
Wild mouse			Wild mouse coaster (B. A. Schiff & Associates)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Mill on the Floss		1967		Previously named Thousand Islands but later became Mill on the Floss. In 1950, it was renamed to The Tunnel of Love
Flying Turns	1934	1967	Wooden Bobsled ride	Wooden bobsled run with steep turns. Moved from the Chicago World's fair in 1934 and opened the following season. Flying Bobs was removed with the park in 1967
Pair-O-Chutes	1937	1967	Originally called the Eye-Full. Spans added to tower to create the first free fall parachute ride.	This ride lifted riders to the top of a tower before dropping carts attached to parachutes
Carousel	1908	1967	Carousel	This 70-horse carousel was built in 1908. It is a PTC carousel and is one of only three remaining five-abreast carousels known to exist. In 1967, it was purchased and moved to Six Flags Over Georgia.
Coal-fired miniature steam engine train
Freak show	1950s		Show	A show that featured Betty Lou Williams, the world's only 4 legged girl, and magician Marshall Brodien who would go on to play Wizzo the Wizard in the famous "Bozo Show"
Flying scooter				Looks almost like a hang glider
Boomerang
Strat-O-Stat
The Calypso
Flying Cars	1954	1966
Hot Rods	1955	1967
Ferris Wheel			Ferris wheel	Ferris wheel
Paratrooper	1960
Space Ride	1963	1967	Sky ride	a $300,000 sky ride.
Bump 'Em			Bumper Cars
Greyhound		1964	Roller coaster	Was replaced by Jetstream
The Tickler	1910
Expo whirl	1910
Witching Waves	1910
Metrodome	1911
Velvet Coaster	1907	1919
Pikes Peak Scenic Railway	1907
Racetrack	1907