The Super Screamer was there until 1999. As I remember it was not a very large park, or maybe I didnt get to see it all.But memories are still there. This is an unused Paragon Park t-shirt from the long defunct amusement park that was located in Nantasket Beach, Hull Ma. Maybe 5 years old. There are so many memories made at these parks no one will ever forget. Wonderful memories! Many years back the classic shore dinners in a pavilion over the water made it famous. War rationing and blackout drills during the 1940s put more strain on the parks operations. Was it destined to become a cornerstone of the casino economy, or was its presence an obstacle to further development? AFAICT Canobie Lake is still open? The Bat featured cars shaped like bats, suspended below the track. I took my children there every Wednesday . Does ANYONE remember the giant blue slide that was down next to the clock where they moved the Carousel too? A great little park! One year I went to Rocky Point Amusement part, this would have to be about 1984-1985 and my Dad at the time worked for Sealtest Ice Cream and they would have a big summer thing down there and we would spend the day first doing carnival activities hosted by the company, then spend the rest of the day at the park. They also hosted many concerts and special shows! Ive cross posted your request for a photo of this ride on the Paragon Park Memories page on Facebook hope it helps! good memories. In one incident, a man fell into a pond. On June 26, 2019, two trains at Cedar Point bumped on the Valravn roller coaster. It is called the Wild One now. The rest of the site is dedicated to condominium development. He grew up on Lake Quinsigamond, so Im familiar with White City as well , as the wild animal farm, Nantasket, ( I eventually settled in nearby Cohasset, the carousel is still there. About This Item; Obtaining Copies; Access to Original; . 1950s. My family had the summer home on the hill directly behind Hurleys Bathhouse (for those who remember). Eric- what cool memories! It will be interesting to see if in time enough energy is generated that can bring this park back. About a month later, a huge blaze destroyed much of the roller coaster, the front entrance, and concessions along the front. Yes ! Dodge commissioned the Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC) to create a new coaster. The Giant Coaster, which was built in 1917 and was removed from the park in 1985, is now known as The Wild One at Six Flags America. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paragon-Park-Memories/103289636409972?sk=info. Remember Revere Beach and Canobie Lake when I was a kid growing up in Somerville, Ma. Dodge assembled a group of investors to form the Eastern Park Construction Company and leased several acres from the railroad company. I have fond memories of an amusement park called Mountain Park that Isnt mentioned. Maurer Rides, a company from Germany,. The Aftermath: Roller Coaster. My parents brought me and I brought my kids. That was wicked cool when you were a kid. I lived and graduated from Lunenburg High School in 70. ive been in that too by the vfw building on the hill, was so glad to see this site !!!!!!!!!!! White City on the shores of Lake Quinsigamond between the Worcester and Shrewsbury linesa wonderful memory. I remember Savin Rock with a fond passion. congrats on 57 yrs. It would be two years before Stone and Golden would be able to assume full control of the park, canceling the lease that had been signed in 1919 and making improvements to the fire-ravaged amusement center. Built in 1917, the wooden. My best memories of my being a teenager is my time being at Paragon Park. the wonderful carousel at nearby Lake Quassapaug! Movie Stars came from California The Three Stooges often preformed on stage I believe it closed in the late 60s. Thank you so much for this page! While my mother caught up with her pal Betty, whom she hadnt seen in years, and my sisters made new friends with Bettys daughters I roamed around and snapped random photos with my new 35mm camera. A great first job! It was closed in the 80s and there are condos located on the site. But my most vivid, and fond memory was Misquamucut, and this mystery park! The roller coaster hit speeds of up to 53 miles per hour during a ride of less than 2 minutes. Storybook characters, a pirate ship and Dodge City with a saloon and stagecoach holdups were among the attractions. United States--Massachusetts--Nantasket Beach. Miraculously, Paragon opened on time for the 1978 season, but not before family matters would complicate the family business. I havent thought about that place in years! And I can still hear the excited screams of the daring roller coaster riders now. In 1987, Bensons Wild Animal Farm was renamed New Englands Playworld Amusement Park and Zoo, but the rebranding didnt help: It closed for good that same year. The rest of the site is devoted to condominium development. The remains of the "Turnpike Cars" roadway ride are hidden in overgrowth beside the parking lot, although are very much visible via Google Maps. It was 1971. Ive been on the one at Canobie and maybe one other but that was enough for me! It ended in the 70s after a series of fires destroyed it. As one of the most historic and popular highways in North America (and dare we say the world), Route 66 has gone through a series of changes since its inception in 1926, going from . Not sure if youre on Facebook, but you might enjoy the Paragon Park Memories page there: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paragon-Park-Memories/103289636409972 and who knows, it may spark some additional good ones! The person, who has not been identified, was flung about 10 feet out . At about the same time, Dodge decided to scale back from running Paragon on a day-to-day basis. A Save the Carousel effort began in earnest in February, with local residents lobbying Larry and Phyllis Stone to keep the merry-go-round intact, and keep it in Hull. We would start pressuring Mom and Dad to take us to Rocky Point as soon as the last of the snow melted. Met my husband at Lake Whalom and we have been married 57 years this year. The ride's top speed is 50 mph, according to the park's Web site. A small miniature golf course is located on one of the smaller sites that once housed a water slide and, previously, a few rides. Thank you for putting these wonderful pictures together. We had a cottage nearby, until the great blizzard of 1978. i lived in hull for 7 yrs between 1971 and 1978 best years of my life were spent there at paragon park and was sorry when the big developers came in and tore it down what a shame. The Giant Coaster, which was built in 1917 and was removed from the park in 1985, is now known as The Wild One at Six Flags America. Loved the Merry Go Round. spent hours running around the park and laughing! Now 67 Grew up close to Canobie Lake Park and Bensons Wild Animal Park and spent so much time at both. The later years at Bensons they had Christmas displays. Great place to go! But the ride was plagued with many problems that remained with it until it was . Carousel Under the Clock, as it was known, operated as a private business until 1996, when the three businessmen who purchased the ride at the auction decided that they needed to recoup their investment. Best wishes, and thanks for stopping by. Built in 1917, the wooden roller-coaster stood 98 feet high at its peak and was the tallest roller coaster in the world for eight years until the Cyclone roller coaster was built at Revere Beach. Younger brother Larry, 30, and mother Rose, 73, were left carry on the management of the family business. I grew up right near norunbeger park me and my friends would take a row boat across the Charles river to get into the park, we would go almost every day in the summer, we didnt have much money but could go to the park by crossing the Charles river and just walking in. Paragon Park was an amusement park located in Hull, Massachusetts, USA. I use to go to Lincoln Park in Dartmouth, Ma. Then there was the Normandy Room (dancing for the younger crowd) but the definite highlight was the Totem Pole Ballroom if your date invited you to go there, you were on top of the world!! you do know the Giant Coaster exists, right? Which now-closed New England amusement parks do you miss the most? Most interesting, I went to Bensons as a child,. Shortly after railroad executives signed the paperwork the following March, fire broke out in a paint shop at the park. But its now been 7 years since the efforts began to try to restore and reopen the park and nothing has been fully accomplished to date. Maybe 5 +. Became engaged watching the submarine races there in 1961. I grew up in Springfield and would rather go there than its competitor, Riverside Park in Agawamnow Six Flags. My sons favorite memory is throwing up on the flying swings. This is one of the smaller "camel humps" of the Giant Coaster being disassembled so that it could be reborn as The Wild One in Maryland. Of the parks you describe, I visited Rocky Point and Bensons Wild Animal Farm as a child. The parks next transformation would not come from fire, but from Mother Natures wrath. I recall a Western theme park in Northeast CT, named Cowboy Village. Even met my husband. [1] More rides that Paragon hosted over the years were the Trabant, the Tilt-A-Whirl, Galaxy Coaster, the Skydiver, Paratrooper, Matterhorn, Himalaya, Round Up, Scrambler, Crazy Tea Cups, Twister Kiddie Coaster, Caterpillar, the Whip, Batman-slide, Super-slide, Salt and Pepper Shakers, Swing ride, Rotor, along with many rides that were smaller versions of these, geared towards children. digital file from original About this Item. Among the amusement rides in operation during Paragon Park's history was a traditionalstyle Philadelphia Toboggan Company carousel (PTC 85) with handcrafted horses, a bumper cars ride known as . I vividly remember a Killer Kowalski wrestling show at the pavilion during one of my visits. Early 50s. Games manager Myron Klayman, the brother-in-law of owner Phyllis Stone, was a selectman in Hull at the time of the storm, and recalled serving dual roles in helping the town clean up from the disaster while also directing crews at his employer. You forgot Pleasure Island. That was a summer vacation treat for us kids in NH. I grew up in The Berkshires and looked forward every summer to making a trip to Mountain Park and stopping at the nearby dinosaur tracks along with way. I used to love Paragon Park! The Nantasket Beach Steamboat Company struggled for several years before declaring bankruptcy; the Old Colony Railroad suspended train service in 1932, substituting buses to and from the Nantasket Junction depot in Hingham. White City Amusement Park on Lake Quinsig in Worcester, MA. News of the developers interest appeared in December 1984 in a place that was unlikely to attract attention a column in the pages of The New England Real Estate Journal, a trade publication generally seen only by those in the real estate industry. Kelley McLaughlin, 13, and Ann Nigro, 14, of Hull, rode past the Giant Coaster at Paragon Park in Hull on their way home from school on March 24, 1984. About a dozen years later I visited Paragon Park while on spring break from RIT and took a few pictures. I remember when they had Elvis performing on the outdoor stagethat was many years ago! No Paragon Park??? Keep us posted on your book and have a great weekend! Contents. Contents 1 History 1.1 Sale and move But they would find that recovering from a flood was entirely different. We enjoyed quite a few evening visits in the 80s. The park's Ferris wheel was moved to the New Bedford waterfront and the Comet roller coaster was torn down on July 11, 2012. My sister was born early on the morning of July 3rd. The Hurricane in Aug of 1954 finally put an end to it. the carousel (PTC #85) that they saved and moved down the street, http://themeparks.about.com/library/coasters/blwildone.htm, http://www.paragonparkmemories.com/Index.html, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paragon-Park-Memories/103289636409972?sk=wall, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paragon-Park-Memories/103289636409972. Thank you William C. Could you be my brother Billy? save the carousel effort was launched, but this time the result would be the formation of the non-profit Friends of the Paragon Carousel and the purchase of the antique merry-go-round for $1.1 million. Roller coasters, water slides, bumper cars; it had it all. Well friends, you never know whats going to happen because the park never reopened the following season, and when I returned in the summer of 1985 I was greeted with this sad sign: Not only had Paragon Park been permanently shuttered, but I had even missed the public auction of all of the goods from the place. Im so glad that these cool old places- even when theyre unfortunately gone, hold a special place in folks lives. I worked for Paragon Park as a ride operator for three consecitives summers from the age 14-17. savin rock amusement park in west haven ct. should definitely be added to this list. Thanks for the memories. The carousel was always a favorite ride no matter how young or old I was. As a South Shore kid I really miss Paragon Park in Hull MA (Nantasket Beach). This was perfect! First, patriarch David Stone died during the off season in Miami; three years later, his oldest son, Joseph, died in the middle of parks 1949 season. In its 96 years, 1985 was the only season of operation the roller coaster has missed. While the Lincoln Park Comet may have rotted away until it was finally removed, The Giant Coaster from Paragon Park lives on at another park. Police said the ride was going full-speed when the Ferguson was struck. But another group of preservationists began to think about how memories of the park could be saved, and fixed its gaze upon the antique carousel. The first major fire at Paragon struck in 1911, leveling all of the buildings from the entrance south along Nantasket Avenue to what would become Park Avenue. Master carousel artisan Charles I.D. Approximately 30,000 theme-park-related injuries occur each year, though not many of those can be classified as "serious injuries," and even fewer end in death. A roller coaster in Japan known for its "super death" acceleration to triple-digit speeds was reportedly shut down after riders suffered serious bone fractures. During the 1930s, part of the Giant Coaster was rebuilt and a brightly colored Art Deco main entrance was erected in 1937. I lived in Leominister and took the bus to whalom Park on Saturdays. I loved Norumbega Park and all the rides. In late 1915, he had leased parts of the park to fruit peddler David Stone and fellow hotelier Albert A. Mountain Park in Holyoke was my favorite, my cousins and I would go there when they visited from Acton. Unfortunately Im to old these days. Is Nantasket Beach also open? Im now in what you would call the elderly stage of my life (Im almost 77). In this video you will ride the coaster THREE times! Time finally caught up with Whalom Park, however, and not long after it closed permanently, the parks remaining structures were razed to make way for a condominium complex. Trailblazer (1974). I remember taking the ferry from Rowes Wharf in Boston to Nantasket Beach as a kid. It was the place to go. As I have spent all my 51 summers at Pemberton point at my grandparents cottage, I will never forget spending my summers enjoying the park especially my favorite the roller coaster. New owners took over after Bensons death in 1943, and although the park still drew crowds, it had up-and-down years for the next few decades. Great memories. Dad took us there at least once every summer???????? My first job was parking cars in the lot across the street. Its layout and format modeled those of Luna and Dreamland at Coney Island, with an ornate front entrance and exhibitions from foreign lands surrounding the lagoon and electric tower. Lots and lots of great memories. 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