Joyland Amusement Park, Decatur, Illinois. (1954 to 1960)

Notice the Swingin' Gym ride on the far right.

Joyland Amusement Park in Nelson Park (Lakeshore Drive and South 22nd Street) was a small, independent amusement park owned and operated by Leroy Schrader and his wife, Nellie. 

On the left is the Rocket Ride.

Single ride tickets were 5¢ and 10¢. For $2.50, you could get an all-day pass. 

The park featured a merry-go-round, a Ferris wheel, a Tilt-a-Whirl, a Rocket Ride, pony rides, and a miniature train. The Igloo-shaped concession stand was popular to cool off from the summer heat.

Joyland was best described as a permanent carnival that pops up in parking lots and churches in the summer. Little kids loved this park. In 1960 the park sold its equipment because the park district didn't have the funds to repair the rides or operate the park any longer.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Joyland (Amusement) Park, Chicago, Illinois. (1923-1925)

Opened in 1923 located at 3301 South Wabash Avenue, Joyland Park brought the pleasures of Chicago's larger amusement parks to the city's rapidly growing South Side negro community. The park was the largest amusement park in the country owned and operated by negroes. Its financial backers included several of the city's leading businessmen and attorneys.

Joyland Park was much smaller than the city's premier amusement parks of that time; Riverview and White City. It occupied on a plot of land barely two acres in area and featured only four major rides; a merry-go-round, Venetian swing, the whip, and a Ferris wheel. 

Because it was owned and operated by negros, the park offered black Chicagoans freedom from the indignities and hostilities they often faced when visiting the city's whites-only amusement parks mentioned above. Despite this, the park only remained in operation for two seasons, closing in 1925.

ADDITIONAL READING:

Before Joyland Park there was the Chateau De La Plaisance Amusement Park at 5318-26 South State Street in Chicago which opened in 1907 but they closed in 1910. The Chateau branded itself as “The Only Amusement Park and Pavilion in the World Owned and Controlled by Negroes.”

African Americans at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, A People Without a Nation.

Negro Day, August 25, 1893, at the World's Columbian Exposition.

Reason Why the Colored American is not in the World's Columbian Exposition. published in 1893.

Removal of the racially charged "African Dip" game from Riverview Park, Chicago.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D.