Riverview Park (Chicago)

This article is about the former amusement park in Chicago. For other uses, see Riverview Park (disambiguation).

Riverview Park

Main entrance to Riverview Park
Location	3300 North Western Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, United States
Coordinates	41°56′33″N 87°41′28″W
Status	Defunct
Opened	July 2, 1904 (1904-07-02)
Closed	October 3, 1967 (1967-10-03)
Slogan	"Laugh Your Troubles Away!" "Chicago's famous Amusement Park"

Riverview Park was an amusement park in Chicago, Illinois, which operated from 1904 to 1967. It was located on 74 acres (30 hectares) 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. It was located in the Roscoe Village neighborhood of Chicago's North Center community area.

Founding

Riverview was established in 1904 by William Schmidt, on the grounds of his private skeet shooting range. The Schmidt family owned and operated the park throughout its lifetime.

Riverview Park, Hell Gate scene, Chicago, Illinois, circa 1907-1914

"Big Bill" Haywood, the Industrial Workers of the World leader, once spoke here to a crowd of almost 80,000 people.

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.

Racism and closing

Riverview closed in 1967. Urban myths endure, describing the park's "seedy" atmosphere in the 1960s, as it coincidentally became more integrated. Contemporaneous articles in black publications, such as the Chicago Defender, described black patrons being subject to both latent and overt racism; the most overt being a longstanding attraction (not owned by Riverview) but by an outside concessionaire renting space from the park. It was unofficially called "Dunk the Nigger", but officially named "African Dip" and then later renamed "Dip", which the NAACP along with newspaper columnist Mike Royko successfully lobbied to shut down in the 1950s.

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

“You see this thing a lot, when African Americans begin going in large numbers [to amusement parks], the parks are increasingly associated with danger and criminality...”

Chuck Wlodarczyk, author of Riverview Gone But Not Forgotten, once performed shows about the park and reported people often approached him afterwards to report hearsay of someone raped in the park restrooms by a black man, however no actual record of these crimes exist. A Chicago Tribune article from late 1967 also blames violence for the park's closure, however Wolcott says there is little evidence of increased violence at the park.

Ultimately, white flight contributed to financial decline at the park, making the land upon which Riverview was built far 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 ($62,137,000 in 2023) was too low.

The grounds became home to Riverview Plaza shopping center, the Chicago Police Area 3 Detective Division, DePaul College Prep High School, 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 Park foundations remain visible, and it is 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 portraying the park, were on display at Riverview Tavern, located on the corner of West Roscoe Street and Damen Avenue from 2005 to 2018. The Riverview Carousel continues to operate at Six Flags Over Georgia. It was the only ride to be saved.

Bally and Williams tie-ins

The Bally Manufacturing Corporation 1972 pinball machine Fireball was named after the park's Fireball roller coaster. Also, Bally's Aladdin's Castle amusement arcade division was renamed from Carousel Time to honor the Riverview Park Aladdin's Castle funhouse. Bally's Aladdin's Castle pinball machine was also inspired by the same funhouse at Riverview. The 1979 Williams Electronics' pinball game Flash and their 1985 Comet were named after the park's roller coasters with these names. Bally Manufacturing and Williams Electronics had their headquarters and primary manufacturing facilities just west of Riverview Park during the later years of the park's operating life.

List of rides

Ride	Year built	Year closed	Manufacturer and ride type	Image	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 Palatine
Shoot the Chutes		1967	Water Ride		Old fashioned water ride
Hades			Fun house
The Rotor	1952	1967	Orton, Sons & Spooner		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)
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

See also

• Flying Cars, former ride

Further reading

• Gee, Derek; Lopez, Ralph (2000). Laugh Your Troubles Away: The Complete History of Riverview Park, Chicago, Illinois. Livonia, MI: Sharpshooter Productions. ISBN 978-0967604510.

• Riverview Park Remembered, Facebook

External links

• Riverview Park at the Roller Coaster DataBase
• Sharpshooters Productions Inc.'s Riverview Park site
• Dolores Haugh Riverview Amusement Park Collection at Newberry Library
• Sanborn map of Riverview Park, 1913