Mountain Park (Holyoke, Massachusetts) facts for kids
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| Location | Holyoke, Massachusetts, United States |
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| Opened | 1897 (amusement park) 2009 (music venue) |
| Owner | Eric Suher |
| Slogan | New England's Finest Amphitheater |
Mountain Park was a popular amusement park located on Mount Tom in Holyoke, Massachusetts. It first opened in 1897. Originally, it was a "trolley park," which means it was built by a trolley company (the Holyoke Street Railway Company) to encourage people to ride their trolleys, especially on weekends.
The company created two main attractions: Mountain Park at the bottom of Mount Tom and a large building called the Summit House at the very top. After many years as an amusement park, Mountain Park later became an outdoor concert venue in 2009.
Contents
Mountain Park's Exciting History
How It All Began
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In 1888, William Loomis took over the Holyoke Street Railway Company. He bought a large area of land on the side of Mount Tom. In 1894, he built an outdoor stage there, which quickly became popular. The trolley line was extended to this spot the next year.
In 1897, Loomis got permission to build a "pleasure resort." This new park included a dance hall, an outdoor restaurant, a fun switchback railway ride, and a merry-go-round. A special cable railway was also built to take visitors up to a new building at the mountain's summit. President William McKinley once said that the view from Mount Tom was the most beautiful in the world!
A new indoor theater, called The Casino, was built with seats for 2,500 people. It mostly showed light operas. The park also had lovely picnic areas, beautiful gardens, reflecting pools, and even a small zoo with bears and deer.
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The first Summit House burned down in 1900, but an even bigger one was built. This new building was seven stories tall and had a golden dome. It also had a fancy restaurant. The park and Summit House continued to grow in popularity. In 1911, a new ballroom, restaurant, and dance hall were added. The old dance hall became an arcade. Later, the "Gorge Scenic Water Ride" replaced the switchback railway, and a ride called the "Tango Dip" was added.
New Owners and New Rides
In 1929, Louis Pellissier became the owner of Mountain Park. He added many new attractions to the midway, including a new roller coaster called The Mountain Wildcat. There was also a new carousel, bumper cars (called Midget Auto Cars), a Whip ride, a Penny Arcade, a Shooting Gallery, a fun house, and a roller skating rink. A new entrance was made for cars from Route 5.
However, this was a tough time because the Great Depression had just started. Also, the Summit House burned down again in May 1929. A smaller metal building replaced it, but it wasn't as popular as before. As trolleys became less common and more people drove cars, the Summit House and its cable car system were eventually taken down.
Even with these challenges, Mountain Park stayed open for over 20 years under Pellissier's leadership. In 1952, the Collins family bought the park. They owned another park called Lincoln Park. John Collins put his brother Dennis and son John J. in charge of Mountain Park. They added a "Kiddieland" area with rides for younger children and families. Many new rides were brought in, and the roller coaster was renamed The Mountain Flyer.
A Popular Spot
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During the 1960s, Mountain Park was one of the most popular places for fun in the Pioneer Valley. Teenagers loved going to hear rock and roll bands and ride the big attractions. Families enjoyed relaxing in the large picnic areas. The park was always being updated with colorful designs by famous roller coaster builder Edward Leis and craftsman Dominic Spadola. They designed many fun houses and dark rides for the park.
From 1941 to 1962, The Casino theater was home to The Valley Players, a theater group that performed plays and musicals all summer. Famous actor Hal Holbrook even performed his one-man show, Mark Twain Tonight, there for the first time.
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In 1971, a food service company called ARASERV leased the park. They added new rides, including the Sky Ride, a chair lift that took riders down to the Animal Land zoo. Sadly, on June 11, 1971, a natural gas explosion and fire destroyed the Tap Room and Stardust Ballroom building. Two park employees died in the accident. These buildings were never rebuilt.
The Casino theater was torn down the next year. John Collins then took back control of the park. Throughout the 1970s, the midway stage hosted many different events. These included soap opera stars, old-time music acts, and even bodybuilding competitions. In 1972, a young Arnold Schwarzenegger was a guest at a bodybuilding competition there. Parts of the famous movie Pumping Iron, which helped make bodybuilding popular, were filmed at Mountain Park. This helped launch Arnold Schwarzenegger's acting career.
Besides bodybuilding, the park also had regular wrestling matches with famous wrestlers like Walter "Killer" Kowalski. Bingo was a big hit for older visitors every Sunday in the Clambake Pavilion. Popular polka musicians like Larry Chesky and Happy Louie and Julcia's Polka Band also performed regularly.
The Park Closes
In the 1980s, Massachusetts faced an economic slowdown. Mountain Park was still popular, and Easter of 1987 saw one of the biggest crowds ever. However, there were new problems. Massachusetts changed its "Blue Laws," which used to prevent stores from opening on Sundays. Sundays used to be the park's busiest day, but now people started going to malls instead.
Also, even though the park had very few accidents, the cost of insurance was becoming extremely high, taking almost all of the park's earnings. With these difficulties and the upcoming retirement of Roger Fortin, a long-time park supervisor, John Collins decided to sell Mountain Park at the end of the 1987 season.
Collins tried to sell the entire park, including all the rides, for $4 million. But because of the economic problems, no one was interested. Over the next two years, the rides were sold off and taken apart.
The community of Holyoke worked together to buy the carousel, which is now the Holyoke Merry-Go-Round in Holyoke Heritage State Park. Many other rides from Mountain Park are now used at different locations. In 1990, the roller coaster's structure was torn down after Collins couldn't find anyone to move it. Its parts were sold to another park to fix their own roller coaster. Starting in 1994, a series of fires destroyed most of the remaining buildings, and everything was bulldozed in 2003.
A New Beginning
Within a few years, nature started to grow back over the park grounds. Collins sold much of his land to the state to become a nature preserve. However, he kept the 60 acres where the park and picnic area were, hoping to find a buyer.
In 2006, a local businessman named Eric Suher bought the 60 acres from Collins for $1.6 million. By the end of that year, the parking lots and midway were cleaned up. A new sign appeared at the entrance that said, "See you in the summer of '07 -- Mountain Park." However, the sign disappeared, and the property remained empty that summer.
By December 2008, the entire park area had been leveled. Only a few reminders of the old park remained, like the entrance to the Mountain Flyer ride, a decaying mini-golf course, a large blue picnic pavilion, and one of the original stone water fountains.
In July 2009, Eric Suher announced his plans to bring Mountain Park back to life. He planned a series of concerts there in August. After clearing the area and setting up food stands under the steel picnic pavilion, Mountain Park reopened as a concert venue on August 15, 2009. It was a free open house with continuous music. The next evening, the first paid concert took place, featuring the band The Decemberists.
In 2010, the park continued to host paid summer concerts with popular bands like The Flaming Lips, Counting Crows, My Morning Jacket, Willie Nelson, MGMT, and The Disco Biscuits.
Images for kids
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Restaurant and Dance Pavilion
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Midway with the Mountain Wildcat Roller Coaster
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Logo of Mountain Park (1960s-1987)
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Playbill for A Streetcar Named Desire (1952)
