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| Always a huge crowd at Coney Island |
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| 150 ft high Ferris Wheel |
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| Luna Park |
Many amazing attractions were first started or seen at Coney Island. For example, they had their first roller coaster in 1884 and also had the largest cyclone in 1927. Coney had the worlds biggest Ferris wheel at one point, the Wonder Wheel, which reached 150 feet into the sky. The largest pool was also another thing Coney had which at one point filled with 670,000 gallons of salt water. The hotel at Coney Island, made in 1882, was unlike any other. It was made of tin and in the shape of an elephant with a roller coaster that ran over the top of it. This was one of the first sights to see when people came to the amazing Coney Island. Another very important thing that got started at Coney was the good ole hot dog. In 1867, Charles Feltman sold his first "red hots". Rumors actually spread that it was "stuff with dog meat". When the ridiculous rumors were immediately reported false, he sold 5 million red hots during 1923 which gave Coney a tremendous amount of money.
When the three enchanting parks were built at Coney Island, that brought in even more people which made them reach their peak. Steeple Chase was one of the three parks that had many strange attractions. At steeple chase visitors could visit a human zoo or even watch a women's skirt fly up from being forced to stand above blowing air. Sadly in 1907, Steeple chase park burned to the ground, efforts were immediately made to rebuild it and it was up and going again a year later. In 1904, senator William Reyonald and a group of local speculators opened Dreamland. Dreamland was completely painted white and had crazy, exotic things such as the Lilliputian Village which had 300 "little people" living there. Dreamland also had an African Village with costumed somali warriors who also lived there. The many beautiful lights at Dreamland also attracted many people because electricity was not very common in their homes at that point. For people who did not have enough money to travel all over the world, Dreamland was the perfect preview of what it was like. This was all thanks to Samuel Gumpertz because he went all around the country and brought crazy, interesting stuff back to Coney. In 1911, another fire broke loose and Dreamland burned down which was not as lucky as Steeple chase to start back.
The last amazing attraction was Luna Park. Luna opened May 16th, 1903 and was built by Thompson and Dundy. Luna had many illusion rides such as "Trip to the Moon", "War of the Worlds", and the "Kansas Cyclone". These rides were designed to keep people on the move. Yet again, another fire burned down the park and Luna was not rebuilt. Steeple Chase was the only park that made it for a while and Coney started to lose many visitors.
Coney Island has a huge connection with urban life. When people wanted to get away from the stress of the city, they could go take a fun break at Coney. Back in the earlier days, only wealthy families could travel to Coney because it was very expensive to travel there. Eventually subways were built and they became known as the "Nickel Empire". Since the subways became cheaper, many more people could go to Coney Island. The middle class first viewed Coney as "a rough and unsavory place", but to the working class and middle class it was "a place of wonder, excitement, and escape." The huge ballrooms and restaraunts, 300 foot high iron tower, all attracted people. Coney was also a popular site for real horse racing, boxing, and other sports. This all brought on even more attractions such as gambling casinos and saloons. Many have said that Coney Island showed the American culture with all of the different people that went there.
The fact people paid just to go look at people who were different is kinda crazy... I don't think I'd ever want to go to a human zoo! Awesome job!
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