In 1929, the year of the Great Depression, Arthur E. Fritz, like many other Americans, was in financial trouble. A builder and contractor by trade, Fritz could not collect payment for his work. He managed to pay all of his creditors. With the little money he had left, he purchased six ponies and offered rides to children in Melrose Park, Illinois.
Fritz felt that despite hard times, parents would still try to save a few dimes for family entertainment. His pony rides soon proved a popular attraction, allowing parents to temporarily forget their troubles while watching their children smile and have a little fun.
Fritz thought about how to expand his operation. Upon learning that a local newspaper was giving away gasoline-powered miniature cars to children as subscription premiums, he noted the names and addresses of the individual winners. He soon followed up with offers to purchase the miniature cars. These became an additional attraction, along with the increasingly popular Pony Rides. By the mid-30s, Fritz had named his little park "Kiddieland." This was before the Kiddieland name was used for amusement parks for young children. It was the first known use of the name "Kiddieland." However, his attempt to register the trademark failed, and the name eventually was used generically about the type of Park he envisioned - an amusement park with rides geared primarily toward children by the nature of their size and the speed and action of the mechanical rides. Fritz set standards for operating a safe, friendly, good-valued and clean amusement park.
Art Fritz has been credited with "launching a whole new development in the outdoor amusement industry." By 1940, Fritz had added the German Carousel, two Miniature Steam Locomotives, the Little Auto Ride, the Roto Whip in 1938, and a Ferris Wheel in 1940.
The 1940s brought the era of World War II and, as one might expect, delayed further growth and development at Kiddieland until the post-war years. Still, Fritz believed parents always found a way to bring their children out to the Park to make some memories and escape their problems of the day.
From a 23-year employee: "The length of the ride depended on the air temperature. The Park was only open on Saturdays and Sundays early in the season. On Saturday morning, oil was applied to the track with a light rust coating. The ride was over 2 minutes with cool temperatures because the oil thickened. In July, when the Park was open 7 days a week in 90° temperatures the ride took only 37 seconds!"
The Little Dipper was a light-hearted, breezy ride through a figure eight-track. The train tackled curvy descents and swift turns, racing at moderate speeds, making riders scream and giggle simultaneously. The car chugged through a whirlwind 700-foot-long track in about a minute. From a peak height of only 30 feet, the first drop wasn't too steep but was still exciting enough for a bit of tummy tickle. The quick swoops, fast curves, and sudden switchbacks were jaw-dropping.
Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois, salvaged the "Little Dipper" from Kiddieland in Melrose Park when it closed in 2009. The video below shows its twin sister, now operating in an amusement park in Marshall, Wisconsin.
VIDEOS
Take a ride on the "Little Dipper" roller coaster. This is the twin sister of Kiddieland's Little Dipper that was first in Kiddy Town at Harlem and Irving Park Road from 1953-1964. Then Hillcrest (Amusement) Park in Lemont bought the Little Dipper and it was running for their 1967 season. A small amusement park in Wisconsin called Little Amerricka Amusement Park (formerly Little A-Merrick-A) in Marshall, Wisconsin (owned by a family named Merrick). The Little Amerricka Amusement Park is still open. The "Little Dipper" was renamed the "Meteor" and was operational for the 2007 season. Videos by David Ellis.
Ride the "Meteor" (Little Dipper) in the first-person view in this video by David Ellis.
Ride the Little Dipper in the first-person view
in this video by David Ellis.
Ride the Little Dipper in the first-person view
in this video by David Ellis.
By 1950, Fritz expanded his dream of the perfect place for families to bring their children to have fun and laugh. Seven kiddie rides were added to the Park; the Merry-Go-Round, a hand-carved wooden carousel that greeted guests as they entered the Park, and the Little Dipper, a small wooden roller coaster, one of only two in the U.S. There were several maintenance and storage buildings constructed as well.
By this time, Fritz's daughters and their spouses, the second generation, were well involved in the Park's operation, and the Park's growth and development continued throughout the 1950s. Some existing rides were replaced with others. In 1962, the original Pony Ring was removed, the Scooters were installed in its place, and significant additional expansion to the Park was made. By the late 60s, several thrill rides were purchased to appeal to older children and teenagers. Kiddieland was beginning its evolution into a family amusement park. At this time, Kiddieland was operating with about 20 rides and attractions. In 1967, Fritz died unexpectedly before he saw the Polyp, the last ride he purchased, installed and running at Kiddieland.
Grandma Fritz (Anne) and the second generation continued to operate the Park for the next ten years. Fritz's third-generation grandchildren were also involved in the Park's operation then. In 1977, Kiddieland was purchased by three of Fritz's grandchildren and their spouses. Two of these families and their children, the fourth generation, were the Park's last owners/operators. The late '70s marked a change in the vision of Kiddieland's future. The growth and development were in the direction of "Fun for the Entire Family." Additions in 1978 and 79 included a game building and the Mushroom Ride.
Early in the 1980s, park growth and development continued with the addition of the ever-popular Race-A-Bouts gasoline-powered antique car ride that intertwined with the north loop of the train tracks and encompassed two small ponds. The original game building added in 1978 was replaced with a larger, more accessible building, and the Volcano Play Center was designed and built. This area was a play area designed to help enhance a child's motor skills with net climbs, a ball crawl, tube slides, and a kid-powered Raft Ride. These elements were built into and around a scaled-down realistic replica of a volcano and also included one of the most remembered and mentioned Kiddieland rides, the Hand Cars. The last significant addition to the Park in the 80s was the Galleon, a high-swinging, brightly lit pirate ship installed in 1986. Late in 1987, Anne Fritz, the wife of Kiddieland's founder, died.
The 1990s found the owner/operators of Kiddieland thinking bigger and wetter! The late summer of 1992 marked the premiere of the single most ambitious project Kiddieland had ever undertaken. The Log Jammer, a log flume water ride designed and geared toward the whole family's enjoyment, finds guests riding in large log boats on a fast-paced, winding river of water until they reach a lift that carries the log boats 35 feet above the racing waters. The logs then fall into a short elevated trough of water, which carries them to a peek before plunging them, screaming down into a large pool of water, creating a giant splash before coasting around back to the station building. The station was recreated from a post and beam building that Art Fritz had dismantled and moved down to Kiddieland from northern Wisconsin. In the spring of 1995, some reshuffling was done to accommodate guests' wishes for a bigger, better place to eat in the Park. The Sky Fighter and the Umbrella Ride were relocated to the previously used area by the miniature gasoline-powered Tractors to make room for a new Food Court. At the same time, other renovations included rebuilding the old Popcorn Stand into an all-new Pizza Stand and rebuilding the old front game building so that it now houses the Water Race Game & Can Alley Games along with the Guest Services booth.
Among its attractions was a fire engine, which was used to pick up birthday party guests at their homes and deliver them to the amusement park.
The entire parking lot was repaved, and all new parking lot lights were installed on the perimeter rather than down the center of the parking lots. In the spring of 1995, the Pipeline was installed. The Pipeline was a water coaster ride that takes guests on a river of water in a small life raft through a large black tube that plunges them down almost 40 feet in total darkness, through twists and turns, dips and drops until they burst out of the tube onto a spray of water. The Pipeline's motions and feel were like that of a roller coaster!
The New Millennium found Kiddieland reaching for the sky with the addition of the Dip' N Drop. The newest addition sits at the entrance of the Volcano Play Center. This fun-filled family ride seats our guests back-to-back and lifts them skyward, giving them a crow's nest view of the surrounding rides. The ride takes you through a series of ups and downs and gives you a weightless feeling as your seat drops out from beneath you. Guest squeal with delight as they are bounced up and down.
In 2004, a dispute developed between Shirley and Glenn Rynes, who owned the land that Kiddieland occupies, and Ronald Rynes, Jr. and Cathy and Tom Norini, who owned the amusement park. The landowners sued the park owners, claiming that the Park had an improper insurance policy and that fireworks were prohibited in the lease. The case was thrown out in a Cook County court and later in an appeals court. In 2008, the Kiddie Swing ride was installed at the entrance to the Volcano Play Center next to the Dip' N Drop.
The landowners declined to extend the lease on the land in early 2009, and Kiddieland closed at the end of the 2009 season. In late June 2010, it was announced that Kiddieland would be demolished. Kiddieland had over 30 rides and attractions and was Chicagoland's oldest family amusement park when it closed forever. Kiddieland's Little Dipper roller coaster was bought by Six Flags Great America and is still in operation today.
The Kiddieland sign (reworked for its height) is now located at the Melrose Park Library, and the word "KIDDIELAND" still lights up at night.
After a year's worth of telephone conversations, I finally set up a meeting with Jim Mayhood, one of Charles Eugene "Gene" Mayhood, the owner's children, at the Helen Matthes Library in Effingham on Saturday, November 2, 2013. We chatted for just under an hour. Jim gave me a Lincoln Land Amusement Park Token. Jim and his other siblings worked at the park over the years. One of their slogans was "Open Rain or Shine."
"A land of thrills. A land of excitement. Lincoln Land
offers entertainment the whole family will enjoy."
THE HISTORY BEFORE LINCOLN LAND AMUSEMENT PARK
Gene helped expand Effingham's landscape on the south side of town. He bought 30 acres of farmland and built the Village Square Mall.
Initially, Gene started many businesses in the mall, including the Carousel Ice Cream Parlor, Computer Village, Keyboard Music Company, the Playland Arcade, Radio Shack, the Village Cinemas, and the Village Snack Bar.
When Gene reached 26 stores, he purchased 50 acres for expansion. JCPenney and an additional 14 new businesses opened at the mall, anticipating a massive boost in foot traffic from the draw of a new indoor amusement park in 1977.
THE HISTORY OF LINCOLN LAND AMUSEMENT PARK
Gene Mayhood, the man with a lot of "get up and go,"was the genius behind building the indoor Lincoln Land Amusement Park in 1977, right next door to the Village Square Mall.
The amusement park was open seven days a week between May 23rd and September 1st and on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays for the rest of the year. The park was billed as the "World's largest indoor amusement park," with 100,000 square feet of entertainment.
The enclosed and air-conditioned Lincoln Land amusement park offered free parking and admission. It housed a giant, full-size Ferris wheel that nearly touched the ceiling, a giant carousel, the scrambler, tilt-a-whirl, the casino ride, the hurricane, bumper cars, Astro-liner, and a moonwalk, along with many other carnival-type rides.
A section had over 80 arcade games and midway games of chance with prizes awarded; clown racers, hoopla toss, basketball, milk can softball, shoot-out-the-star, loads of skee-ball machines and a grand photo center.
There were 4 Food and Refreshment Areas and a special area for picnics. The park also had an auditorium that would seat 1,000 people that presented family shows and live entertainment.
There was a giant stairway in the middle of the park. On the 2nd floor was the Skate Land roller rink with a huge skating floor, the Country Club Miniature Golf Course with 18 holes, and a game arcade. Toddlers and young children could enjoy themselves in their own Kiddie Land, a specially created playland giving kids the amusement park excitement they wanted and the safety parents demanded. In the early 1980s, the building had 15 major rides. Lincoln Land is the main reason why there are hundreds of parking spaces at Village Square Mall today, as the lot was packed nightly back in the 1970s and '80s.
Gene sold the mall to New York-based Elart Corporation in 1988. The amusement park building is now an office/retail center.
Jim Mayhood says the main reason Lincoln Land Amusement Park closed was the drastic drop in guests and the yearly increase in operating expenses.
Jim has kindly permitted me to recreate the Lincoln Land Amusement Park logo. I offer some great items. Thank you, Jim.
"Palace of Fine Arts" was initially named the "Fine Art Gallery" for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. It was later the Field Museum's first home, then became the Museum of Science and Industry. Why was it saved? It was the only building built as 'fireproof.' No foreign countries would have sent their fine art pieces and antiquities without a fireproof building.
The first published suggestion that a museum should be formed due to the exposition was, in the opinion of Frederick J.V. Skiff, the first Director of the Museum, an article by Professor F.W. Putnam in the Chicago Tribune of May 31, 1890. In that year and the following one, Putnam also addressed local bodies on this subject, and his views were duly reported in the newspapers. In 1891, Dr. G. Brown Goode, then in charge of the United States National Museum, while in Chicago to consult with the exposition directors regarding government exhibits, emphatically pointed out to J.W. Ellsworth, a member of the foreign affairs committee, the opportunity afforded by the Exposition to establish a great museum. Mr. Ellsworth became an enthusiastic advocate of the plan, and he was able to interest other committee members, including William T. Baker, chairman. As a result, purchases made abroad by this committee and equipment for some departments were viewed partly in relation to their usefulness for a future museum. Early in 1892, an organization called the Columbian Historical Association was formed, at the suggestion of members of this committee, to take advantage of the privilege granted by scientific societies to import exhibits free of duty. Funds contributed to this society by various individuals were regarded by Director Skiff as the first actually given on behalf of the Museum. In July 1893, a letter by S.C. Eastman, published in the Tribune and followed by strong editorials in other newspapers, called attention anew to the desirability of a museum and aroused much public interest. In recognition of this interest, a committee of three exposition directors called a public meeting "to adopt measures to establish in Chicago a great museum that shall be a fitting memorial of the World's Columbian Exposition and a permanent advantage and honor to the city." This meeting, held on August 7, 1893, was attended by about one hundred leading citizens. As a result of the meeting, a committee was appointed to incorporate an institution that had been projected. Under the name of "The Columbian Museum of Chicago," an application was made for incorporation, with sixty-five leading citizens as incorporators and fifteen as trustees. On September 16, 1893, a charter was applied for and granted. The object of the corporation was stated to be "the accumulation and dissemination of knowledge and the preservation and exhibition of objects illustrating art, archaeology, science, and history." Meanwhile, officials of the exposition had become actively interested in the plan for the Museum and began to solicit and procure gifts and transfers of desirable exhibits from exhibitors. Response to the requests generally was hearty, and material for the new Museum accumulated rapidly. On September 14, A.W. Manning of the Evening Post suggested that holders of exposition stock donate their shares to the Museum. This suggestion ultimately brought, from about 1,100 persons, gifts of certificates totaling $1,500,000 in par value. Thus, progress was rapidly and successfully made toward establishing a great museum. As time went on, however, and exhibits accumulated in large amounts, it was realized that an adequate endowment to ensure permanency to the institution was as yet far from being obtained. The countrywide financial stringency, which developed to alarming proportions in 1894, was already felt. Strenuous efforts to raise the needed amount failed to give the hoped-for results. By the middle of October, in the words of Director Skiff, "a period of discouragement came upon those at work for the Museum. Nothing but the faith, devotion, and courage of a few men prevented the disintegration of the preliminary organization and the practical abandonment of the Museum enterprise." Among Chicago's citizens in 1893, none stood higher in the confidence and esteem of the public than Marshall Field. Born in Conway, Mass., in 1835, Mr. Field, in early life, had come to Chicago. Here he advanced rapidly until he had primarily created and become the head of a great business that occupied a leading place in the city and attained worldwide fame. Mr. Field favored all plans for increasing Chicago's cultural and educational facilities. Moreover, it was known that any enterprise he set his hand in would be given wholehearted and permanent support. Therefore, on October 24, 1893, Edward E. Ayer, a member of the museum association finance committee, who later became the first President of the Museum and throughout his life remained one of its most ardent and able supporters, called up Mr. Field and set forth the peculiar opportunity which the World's Columbian Exposition afforded to establish a great museum in the city. He called attention to the fact that no such institution, as yet, existed in Chicago and pointed out that the opportunity to create through the acquisition of exhibits of the exposition should not be allowed to lapse. At the end of the interview, Mr. Field remained noncommittal but promised to consider the matter. He evidently wished to assure himself of the plan's need, importance, and desirability before committing himself to its support. His consideration quickly resulted in a favorable decision, and on October 26, he announced that he would contribute the sum of $1,000,000 to establish the proposed museum. The gratification of the committee on receiving this announcement can well be imagined. Everyone knew that it meant the success and permanence of an excellent museum for the city. It is doubtful if, up to that time, any museum had ever received so munificent a gift. As a single gift for museum purposes, it shattered all precedents. The establishment of the Museum was assured, and other contributors promptly appeared. George M. Pullman and Harlow N. Higinbotham each subscribed $100,000. Other contributors of funds included Mrs. Mary D. Sturges, the McCormick Estate, P. D. Armour, Martin A. Ryerson, R. T. Crane, A. A. Sprague, and many other leading citizens. Together with donations of exposition stock, their contributions totaled nearly one-half million dollars by the end of the following year. These funds enabled purchases of extensive collections or important exhibits shown at the exposition. Such assets included the War natural history collection, the Tiffany collection of gems, the collection of pre-Columbian gold ornaments, the Hassler ethnological collection from Paraguay, collections representing Javanese, Samoan, and Peruvian ethnology, and the Hagenbeck collection of about 600 ethnological objects from Africa, the South Sea Islands, British Columbia, et cetera. A spirit of generous cooperation was aroused on all sides, and donations of exhibits and collections of great value were received in large numbers. Mr. Ayer presented his extensive anthropological collection, chiefly devoted to the ethnology of the North American Indian. The Museum was acquired by purchase and gift, and almost all the extensive collections made by the Department of Anthropology of the exposition. The technical and special collections created by the Department of Mines, mining and Metallurgy of the exposition were presented, together with the exhibition cases, as were also collections from 130 exhibitors in the same department. From exhibitors in agriculture, forestry, and manufacturing departments of the exposition, collections of timbers, oils, gums, resins, fibers, fruits, seeds, and grains were contributed in such a large quantity and variety as to ensure for the first time in any general natural history museum the formation of an adequate department of botany. THE BATTLE OF A LIFETIME Fights broke out that involved bitter differences of opinion over the city's lakefront: Should it be left pristine or dotted with cultural amenities? Two local moguls squared off: Marshall Field, who made State Street the city's shopping Rialto, on the side of a proposed museum, against Arron Montgomery Ward, who made Chicago the hub of the mail-order industry and was a staunch protector of the city's lakefront as a public space. Lawsuits involving arcane legal principles were accompanied by insults worthy of a guttersnipe. Ward's attorney accused Field of building a monument to himself, facetiously adding: "And being a poor man, he could not afford to pay for a site. Now it is proposed to secure a site from the city of Chicago by violating a trust." That battle, which would ultimately outlive one of the combatants, began October 27, 1893, when Field pledged to contribute $1 million ($33.5M today) toward a museum to permanently house exhibits from the World's Columbian Exposition, which was about to close. Others involved in the project recognized that a famous name attracts others with money. So a year later, the museum was renamed the Field Columbian Museum, subsequently shortened to The Field Museum, changes that lived up to their promise. John G. Shedd, the second president of Marshall Field & Co., would endow the aquarium alongside the Field Museum. Max Adler, vice president of Sears, Roebuck & Co., would do the same for the nearby planetarium. It immediately put Field on a collision course with Montgomery Ward, the self-described guardian angel of Chicago's lakefront. Ward was defending the 1836 mandate to keep Chicago's lakefront public ground. The Field Museum was initially sited for the lakeshore at Congress Parkway, and Ward filed a lawsuit upon its announcement. He claimed that when he purchased nearby property, "he relied on plats ... in which appeared the words: 'Public ground, a common to remain forever open, clear and free from any buildings or other obstruction whatever.'" Still, Ward was open to compromise, tired after years of hectoring and suing the city to clean up what is now Grant Park, which was then little more than a dumping ground. If guaranteed that the museum would be a unique exception, Ward would drop his opposition. But developers were rushing proposals to the park's commissioners, who rejected Ward's offer. The game was on. The combatants were very different types. The Field had a broad circle of friends, business associates, and fellow philanthropists to support his fight for the museum, and Ward was a loner who shunned social gatherings. Ward had one critical ally, however: Time. Like a sports team, he could win by running out the clock. Field, who died in 1906, left an additional bequest of $8 million (Today: $226 M) for the museum, but his donation was contingent upon the city providing a site, free of charge and within six years of his death. Ward knew that he would win if he could keep the project tied up in the courts until midnight on January 1, 1912. Accordingly, the legal papers flew back and forth, accompanied by a war of words. Field's supporters played on the public's heartstrings. There were oddball legal maneuvers. The Illinois legislature passed a bill in 1903 enabling the park board to void Ward's easement on Grant Park, his legal right to have it free of buildings. "You can pass all the state legislation you want to," an aide to Ward responded, "but it will not be constitutional if Mr. Ward complains." Indeed, the Illinois Supreme Court sided with Ward, as it did on several occasions. Stymied, the museum's partisans offered ways out of the deadlock. Stanley Field, Marshall Field's nephew and successor, lobbied the state legislature in 1910 on behalf of a bill that would grant the museum submerged land in Lake Michigan to fill in and build on the resulting island. The project was dubbed the Atlantis Museum, but Ward vetoed it. The park board offered a site in Garfield Park and then an alternate one in Jackson Park, the site of the World's Fair that gave birth to the museum project. The clock was ticking down, and the museum trustees were about to settle for the latter offer. But at the last minute, the Illinois Central Railroad offered land at 12th Street upon which it had planned to build a terminal. That is where the Field Museum of Natural History was finally built, starting in September 1911.
The New Field Museum under construction. Date unknown.
The battle of the Titans had ended in a draw. Field got his museum, albeit posthumously. Ward, who died in 1913, lived to see his unspoiled lakefront. Chicagoans got both: a world-class museum and an incomparable shoreline.
The Field Museum of Natural History's opening day is May 2, 1921.
Perhaps balancing the exhausting struggle that accompanied its birth, the Field Museum opened without fanfare on May 2, 1921. "The doors were opened at 2 o'clock, and the first of the 8,000 guests entered," the Tribune observed. "Speeches and music would have been superfluous." The Field Museum of Natural History was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. Name Change Timeline Originally named the "Columbian Museum of Chicago" in honor of its origins, it was incorporated by the State of Illinois on September 16, 1893, for the purpose of the "accumulation and dissemination of knowledge, and the preservation and exhibition of artifacts illustrating art, archaeology, science, and history." The Columbian Museum of Chicago occupied the only building from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park, the Palace of Fine Arts. The building is now home to the "Museum of Science and Industry." On November 10, 1905, the museum's name was changed to the "Field Museum of Natural History" to honor its first significant benefactor, Marshall Field, and reflect its focus on the natural sciences. By the late 1930s, the Field Museum had emerged as one of the three premier museums in the United States. On December 6, 1943, the Trustees voted to change the Museum's name to Chicago Natural History Museum. From 1943 to 1966, the name Field was completely removed, and the museum was recast as the Chicago Natural History Museum. But when Stanley Field, Marshall's nephew and the museum's president for over 50 years, passed away in 1966, its name was switched back to its pre-1943 moniker to honor the Field family's service again. On March 1, 1966, Trustees voted to change the Museum's name back to "Field Museum of Natural History." Excerpt from the "Bulletin Field Museum of Natural History." Vol.37, № 3, March 1966
Mr. Field's grandson, Marshall Field III, made contributions between 1925 and 1949 approximating in amount those of his grandfather. His major gift, made at the time of the Museum's 50th Anniversary in 1943, was the stimulus for the institution to enter the greatest period of growth in its history. From 1943 to 1965 the size of the staff doubled and the size of the collections more than tripled.
Stanley Field, the nephew of the first Marshall Field, served as President and Chairman of the Board of the Museum for more than 50 years, until his death in 1964. He made large financial contributions to the Museum, but even more important, he, more than any other individual, built the distinguished institution that exists today (in March 1966). Other members of the family have also served the Museum. Marshall Field II and Marshall Field IV were Trustees during their lifetimes, and Joseph N. Field has been a Trustee for more than 30 years.
THE DIGITAL RESEARCH LIBRARY OF ILLINOIS HISTORY JOURNAL™ PRESENTS
THE LUNCHTIME THEATER.
Chicago Century of
Progress International Exposition World's Fair. 1933
A Century of Progress International Exposition was the name of a World's Fair held in Chicago from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation. The fair's motto was "Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Conforms."
The architectural symbol was the Sky Ride, a transporter bridge perpendicular to the shore on which one could ride from one side of the fair to the other. The Sky Ride was designed by the bridge engineering firm Robinson & Steinman, that ferried people across the lagoon in the center of the fair. It was demolished after having carried 4.5 million riders during the run of the fair. The Sky Ride had an 1,850-foot span and two 628-feet tall towers, making it the most prominent structure at the fair. Suspended from the span, 215 feet above the ground, were rocket-shaped cars, each carrying 36 passengers.
"Hollywood Kiddieland" was an amusement park in the area we now know as "Lincoln Village," on the Southeast side of McCormick Boulevard and Devon Avenue. The address was 6301 North McCormick Boulevard, Chicago. It is actually in the northeast corner of the North Park Community of Chicago.
Edward "Buddy" Louis Klatzco's parents, Louis & Mrs. Klatzco, and brother, Richard, opened Hollywood Kiddieland in 1949. When Buddy returned home after serving in the Army during the Korean War, he started Hollywood Miniature Golf next to Hollywood Kiddieland and added batting cages in 1966.
Photo of Mark Lassman at Hollywood Kiddieland, Chicago, June 1960.
In 1955, the five Acciari brothers bought Hollywood Kiddieland from the Klazcos. Their purchase included 18 rides and concession stands. Geoff Acciari ran Kiddieland along with Ray Angelini, who was the majority owner, holding a 51% interest in Hollywood Kiddieland.
Photo by: Walter Rieger
The Swingin' Gym [my personal favorite].
They added an arcade for the 1958 season. The Klazco family kept the title of the land, plus the batting cages and miniature golf course.
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The Klatzco family bought Novelty Golf and Games in Lincolnwood in the mid-60s. Novelty has two miniature golf courses and a 19th hole, like a pinball game where you would shoot your golf ball and win a free round of golf if the ball went into the one and only hole in the center. The game room was packed full of pinball machines and, later, video games, but it was small. In later years, they built batting cages.
In the late '60s, Hollywood Kiddieland ride tickets cost 20¢ each or six for a dollar. At the season's opening, Kiddieland offered free tickets in exchange for the cardboard caps from glass milk bottles. Mothers across West Ridge, Rogers Park, and surrounding communities saved bottle caps over the winter. Opening day saw record crowds of kids and their moms lining up at the ticket booths with their "pot-o-gold" ─ large bulging bags of milk bottle caps.
There were a couple of food concession stands and a small Souvenir Stand. Like many other Chicagoland "Kiddie Parks," Hollywood Kiddieland had a fire truck used to pick up birthday party guests at their homes and deliver them to the amusement park. When the fire truck wasn't picking up partygoers, it was used as a ride in the park.
The Klatzco family closed Hollywood Kiddieland, the batting cages, and the miniature golf course in 1974 but continued to run Novelty Golf and Games (and still open at the Northwest corner of Devon and Lincoln Avenues in Lincolnwood, Illinois), where Buddy Klatzco was co-owner. After the 25-year property lease expired in 1974, Hollywood Kiddieland was sold.
NOTE: Bounce Land Trampoline Parks were around from the late 50s to the early '60s. One was on Devon Avenue just east of Lincoln Avenue on the Chicago side of Devon. Many people associate this Bounceland with Hollywood Kiddieland in Chicago, but as you can see from the map below, they are different businesses. Follow the link to Bounce Land above to see a map of where Bounce Land and Hollywood Kiddieland are located.
