Defunctland: The History of Freedomland U.S.A.

On June 15th 1959 Disneyland Park celebrated its first major expansion with a television special hosted by Walt Disney himself the star-studded event was billed as the second opening of Disneyland a true spectacle among its viewers were four men huddled in a small motel room in Wakefield Massachusetts they were as impressed as they were disappointed all of them had been at the park for years prior for its grand opening all of them had played a major role in the parks development and all four were now on the other side of the country pulling 14-hour days on their own theme park project that would be less impressive and visited by less people in that moment all but one of them wish they were back at Disneyland once the special was over they turned off the TV cracked open some beers and played a few rounds of poker to get their minds where their bodies already were away from Anaheim [Music] you CV wood was a hustler at best and a con man at worst he was born on December 17th 1920 in a small town in Oklahoma although he would often claim that he was from Texas which he had moved to around the age of 8 his father worked for the Santa Fe Railroad during the height of the Great Depression but would resented the poverty of his youth so he rarely mentioned it wouldwould claimed that he had a degree in engineering from the University of Oklahoma but there is no proof of this and many close to him doubted the accuracy of the claim despite this wood was able to land multiple engineering jobs just by saying he was qualified and hoping than no one checked which they did not even his own name CV was not free of woods fabrications CV stood for Cornelius Vanderbilt would some say it stood for Commodore Vanderbilt would but if someone asked him his name was C for nothin V for nothin would he preferred Woodie anyways Woodie sold his mistruths in exaggerations with a cartoonish Texas accent and a showman's personality his biggest fear in life was returning to poverty and his greatest goal was prominence he had learned to play life like a poker game what he wasn't dealt a good hand so he learned to bluff and no one had called him on it Woodie eventually went to work for the Stanford Research Institute in economic development firm who in 1953 was hired by Walton Roy Disney to help in the construction of Walt's amusement park Harrison buz price an economist at Stanford and woody were tasked with finding a location for the park as well as researching many of the logistics of operating such a business woody stepped into his role effortlessly he casually chatted with landowners and leaked fake leads to the press so no one knew where Walt was intending to purchase land he was equal parts charming and manipulative Woody and Buzz Price also conducted possibly the most thorough assessment of amusement parks at the time and soon CV wood was a qualified expert in his field more qualified than he had ever been as an engineer in April 1954 with construction on the park set to begin Roy Disney asked wood to leave the Stanford Research Institute and join Disneyland full-time as its general manager and executive vice president it also made him the park's first employee he was expected to stay at least through the construction and the first year of operation growing up woody had developed a close-knit group of friends which nicknamed themselves the Bombers after a World War 1 film that they had watched the Bombers remained friends into their adulthood and constantly hired one another onto their projects after obtaining this position at Disneyland woody did not hesitate and hiring many of his childhood friends and other acquaintances one bomber Earl Shelton would become Disneyland site manager one of woods former bosses Fred Schumacher who would help develop the 1939 New York World's Fair would be brought on as a park executive a former coworker of woods Van Arsdale France would join Disneyland to train the parks employees Joe Fowler a retired Navy admiral that would had worked with while at SR I was brought on to oversee the construction of the Mark Twain riverboat it was as if woody was planning a coup and walked grew suspicious of his intentions woody was a man that was always moving forward climbing the ladder and being Disneyland's general manager there was nowhere else for him to go Walt tended to resent the suits within his organization as they often limited his creative visions but Walt soon learned that wood was on another level he was willing to do or say anything for the sale however as uncomfortable as Walt was with Woody's business practices he and Roy needed him especially when it came to securing sponsors for the part [Music] as construction continued tensions between Walton woody rose through a series of incidents Wood was frustrated by Walt's attention to detail with the park believing that it was unnecessary at one point Wood approached Walt about a raise in the throws of construction Walt turned him down Disneyland was running out of funds quickly and Walt was offended by woods audacity woody still believing he deserved a higher pay and now feeling insulted by Walt secretly set up a series of kickbacks with small vendors who wanted into Disneyland on top of this Walt would blame woody for much of the chaos of Disneyland's opening referred to as black Sunday while believed that the lack of crowd control and the many non operating attractions was the fault of the parks manager once Disneyland was open and deemed a success woody in his pursuit of fame tried to inch himself into the spotlight when Vice President Richard Nixon was given the key to Disneyland Wood was the one who presented it in November of 1955 just a few months after Disneyland's opening Walt debuted the Mickey Mouse Club circus just outside the park which would was firmly against after the circus failed to attract guests would suggested that they make changes which prompted Walt to respond with quote god damn you this is my circus Willie was constantly intervening between the two but from Woods perspective he often had to mediate between Walt and Roy perhaps Woods most suspicious move while at Disneyland was the way in which he courted Ron Miller Walt's son-in-law at one point convincing Miller that Walt was irrational in his plans for the park almost as if to draw more of the Disneyland team to his side Walt might have felt threatened by wood and the group of followers that he was acquiring within his own organization fearing that he would be betrayed with Disneyland as he had with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Universal or with the strike in his own studio whether it was woods manipulation Walt's paranoia we're a mix of both remains unclear but the series of incidents led to woods firing in January of 1956 woody was out of Disneyland but he did not intend to leave the amusement park business while he might have lost the hand he was leaving with an ace of his sleeve [Music] after his departure from Disney wouldwould for Marco engineering incorporated to build other theme parks throughout the United States the design firm was ingenious as many wealthy entrepreneurs and real estate investors were striving to copy Disneyland success would use his time at Disneyland as his main selling point and recruited many disneyland employees away from Walt and to Marco the firm's first major project came in 1957 with a park to be named Magic Mountain in Golden Colorado Magic Mountain was planned to be an educational theme park based on Colorado history with an Indian village in western town there was also to be a futuristic city of Mars and a fairy tale castle likely drawing inspiration from a source unrelated to Colorado history the park would only be constructed partially with many of the original plans scrapped after Magic Mountain Marco would design Pleasure Island in Wakefield Massachusetts another park with more than a few similarities to Disneyland some even called it the Disneyland of the Northeast however the park to truly hold the label the Disneyland of the East would be woods next project Van France who had left Disneyland to work with would once again recalled finishing work on Pleasure Island first season wood had already left the project to pitch a new park to New York Wood told France to meet him in Manhattan when he arrived at woods hotel room would he simply point it at the table on top of it sat a check for 13 million dollars with little more than his Texas charm and Disneyland on his resume woody had sold a theme park to the wealthy elite of New York City the park was to be named freedom land USA the goal of the park was to quote tell the whole American story in one vast area shaped like our country's map and segmented into States around 80 acres would be required for the u.s. shaped park compared to Disneyland 60 acres knowing the finding that much land in the densely populated New York City would be difficult would pitch the project to web and map a real estate firm run by famous developer William Zeckendorf who had invested in Magic Mountain and Pleasure Island Zeckendorf was a Titan overseeing the largest real estate empire at the time but even he was not immune to woods charm impressively Webb & Knapp owned an empty pot of land big enough to hold the park and then some 205 acres of marshland in the Bronx along the bank of the Hutchinson River Malayan not used for the park would contain a parking lot for 7,200 cars in the freedom land in the parks hotel Zeckendorf agreed to lease the swampy plot in the Bronx for woods park and freedom land had secured its land would recruited investors to the project including many of those that had invested in Pleasure Island these investors formed a company called the International Recreation Corporation or IRC which would act as freedom lands parent company Woods Park would cost 65 million dollars compared to Disneyland 17 million this was in part because the land was expensive to lease and because construction was more expensive in New York City but Woods ambitions for the park which he saw as being a bigger better Disneyland also inflated the price the sixty five million dollar figure was also likely an exaggeration for the purpose of promotion the park was designed to entertain 90,000 visitors on peak days and five million guests per year were projected the park plan to hold a groundbreaking ceremony on July 4th 1959 but it was delayed until August 26th in September it was announced that Fred Schumacher who would he brought on as an executive at Disneyland would serve as freedom lands vice president and general manager the same roles Woody had held at Disneyland other Disney people included cliff Walker the lead designer on the Jungle Cruise who would be the director of operations at freedom land Earl Shelton Woody's childhood friend and Disneyland site manager would be an executive at freedom land Van France would continue with macro engineering training freedom lands employees as he had done at Disneyland and these were just a few of the many Disneyland employees that would contribute to freedom land by the time the park was under construction plans for the 1964 New York World's Fair had been unveiled the fair became a goal line for the park the team believed that the World's Fair would draw massive crowd into New York City and these crowds would likely spend a day at freedom land this belief even influenced freedom lands advertising with promotion for the park rolled out nationwide to familiarize the country with freedom land before they traveled to the fair freedom land would miss its June 1st deadline it would open a few weeks later on June 19th 1960 as with Disneyland freedom lands debut would be chaotic the parks pavement was one of the last things to be finished in a similar situation to Disneyland at Disney's Park the heels of women's shoes sunk into the asphalt freedom lands situation was slightly worse as the land beneath the park was swampland with some sections of it having been used as a landfill by some accounts this led to Springs from old mattresses poking their way up through the pavement and tripping visitors also in a parallel to Disneyland opening day was hot the water fountains weren't operational and many of the attractions were roped off would who had been blamed for Disneyland's botched opening was looking more like a common denominator rather than an innocent bystander however opening day did successfully draw over 60,000 people into Freedomland New York Mayor Robert Wagner would declare June 19th Freedomland Day [Music] yep here comes the fort cavalry stage right on time now this may be Indian Territory and it may look like the Old West but the time is today and the place is freedom land a big entertainment part in the Bronx in the state of New York just half an hour by subway from Times Square in New York City [Music] yes would enter Freedomland as millions had through new york the first theme section names little old New York was the city in the mid to late nineteenth century old New York was similar to Main Street USA and then it mainly consisted of era specific shops and modes of transportation the most advertised of all the stores was certainly the replica of the first New York Macy's which sold toys hats and other souvenirs the main attraction of the land was the horseless carriage in antique cars ride through a mock New England countryside Eero development the company which had contributed many attractions to Disneyland was responsible for the antique cars as well as numerous other Freedomland rides as with Disneyland would recruited sponsors for many of freedom lands restaurants shops and attractions packing in even more companies than he had with Disneyland freedom land also featured costumed actors / trained citizens of the time periods in little old New York a suffragette and a police officer would perform and interact with visitors after the New York section was old Chicago unlike the broad time period of freedom lands New York area old Chicago was set at a very specific date and time in October of 1871 the Great Chicago Fire killed around 300 people and did unfathomable damage to the city after the fire a reporter for the Chicago Republican newspaper claimed that the fire was started in the barn of Irish immigrant Catherine O'Leary while she was milking her cow he claimed that the cow kicked over a lantern which started the fire a story that was soon published throughout the country being accepted far and wide as the reason for the destruction fueled by anti-poverty anti Irish and anti-catholic sentiments forty years later the reporter admitted that he and two of his co-workers had made the story up it's up for debate which is more embarrassing that these people would ruin the reputation and life of an innocent woman to sell a few papers or that it took three people to fabricate a story in which a cow kicks over a lantern no matter O'Leary who reportedly quote died heartbroken in 1895 and the cow who died likely oblivious at an unreported date were cleared of all guilt but that did not stop freedom land USA a park boasted as quote authentic in every detail for continuing to point the finger at O'Leary in fact visitors to freedom land could literally point at O'Leary cow as they were featured in the old Chicago area as walk-around characters the Chicago Fire itself was also recreated the brochure stated quote the Great Chicago Fire was a disaster today it's spectacular entertainment fire once every 20 minutes a controlled fire was started on a group of buildings and the hand-pumped fire engine was rolled out children were encouraged to help pump the water to put out the flames also an old Chicago was the Great Lakes a man-made waterway in which a sternwheeler and a tugboat took guests on a scenic tour with bands on board to lead them in song there was also a station for the Parks Railroad the Santa Fe Railroad based on the real-life railway that Woods father had worked on after old Chicago was the Great Plains set between 1803 and 1900 this area featured Fort Calvary a log stockade straight from the quote Indian fightin days inside guests could learn to square dance and lasso while also seeing bandits get caught charged and even attend their funeral after they were hung in Indian village originally located in old Chicago was eventually moved to this area as well the major attraction of the land was the stagecoach which gave us a tour of the planes and even crossed a river after the Great Plains with San Francisco also set in a specific year 1906 the year of the great earthquake in another disaster turned spectacle the main attraction of the area would be earthquake a dark ride that took guests through the streets of San Francisco during the earthquake that killed over 3,000 people buildings crumbled houses slid and fires broke out as the dark ride progressed San Francisco also had a stop for the Santa Fe Railroad the other main attraction of the area was the Northwest fur trapper freedom land's Jungle Cruise equivalent which took guests on a fur trapping journey along the Pacific Northwest where they would have to avoid collapsing bridges cougar attacks and quote in ambush by totem pole Indians by this point in the guests Freedomland journey some might have noticed a slight bias in the park storytelling while the Indian village would feature members of the Penobscot tried as actors the Northwest fur trapper ride port cavalry and the stagecoach ride would refer to or depict indigenous people as aggressors while depicting the Pioneers as rugged heroes this Western aesthetic was popularized decades prior by Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show and freedom land would feature an actress train Annie Oakley Buffalo Bills famous sharpshooter Freedomland marketed itself as edutainment but in reality its focus was unbridled patriotism far more than even Disneyland presented freedom land was the bedroom where Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty made Yankee Doodle Dandy he was the idea of the USA brought to life nowhere was this more evident than in the parks mascot the fictional Johnny freedom said to be a quote representative of the American spirit of hard work and ingenuity [Music] after San Francisco was the old Southwest set in 1890 combining three southwestern towns Tucson tombstone in Santa Fe into one themed area attractions included the Tucson mining company Sky Ride Casa loca a tilted house mine caverns a two-story dark ride taking us on a journey through an old mine and the Santa Fe Opera House and saloon which played western stage shows when the Santa Fe Railroad passed through the Old Southwest bandits would often hold up the Train Gus could also send themselves a letter while in the Great Plains that a Pony Express rider would deliver to a post office in the old Southwest after the old Southwest was New Orleans where every day was Mardi Gras New Orleans featured multiple dark rides including Buccaneers a dark ride that took guests in a ride car dressed like a pirate ship through multiple scenes of pirates and even an encounter with a sea serpent it is suspected that one of marco engineering's former disneyland employees was made aware of Walt's concept for a pirate walkthrough attraction it is theorized that the success of Buccaneers influenced the decision to change Disneyland's walk through pirate wax museum into a dark ride another natural disaster dark ride named tornado took guests on a car ride during a violent twister viewing that destroy a family farm Civil War took guests on wagons through a recreation of famous war scenes using primitive animated figures this was one of the parks most popular attractions and it was partially created to capitalize off of the centennial of the Civil War which would be celebrated from 1961 to 1965 New Orleans also featured a narrow development Danny the dragon ride as well as the king Rex carousel the area was often referred to as freedom lands fantasy land equivalent the seventh and final land of freedom land was satellite city labeled as the future the brochure stated quote freedom land has taken you on a tour of America's past in satellite city you can step right into its future this space-age land was geographically located in freedom lands Florida and many of the attractions were tied to the rocket launch site at Cape Canaveral attractions included the blast-off bunker an educational walkthrough of a Cape Canaveral control room with a simulated launch sequence a moving sidewalk and the satellite city Turnpike a sports car kiddie ride showcasing the future of highways similar to Disneyland Zootopia satellite city's most striking attraction was the brand of space rover a flight simulator that was a combination of Disneyland's rocket to the moon and sir Kurama attractions giving guests views from above earth specifically of South America and the United States the show building resembled an enormous UFO straight from the movies of the day the park also had its own soundtrack with original arrangements and songs for each land freedom land with its seven themed areas and over 40 attractions was impressive while it clearly followed the Disneyland model there were plenty of unique and innovative experiences that set Freedomland apart the major difference in its scale was Woods attention to detail he brought the philosophy he had while at Disneyland with him to freedom land he believed that Park guests focused on the big picture and not the tiny details so while freedom land was bigger than Disneyland it lacked the depth that came from Walt's perfectionist nature and the talent of his artists but would might not have been completely wrong as many visitors who had visited both parks believed freedom land was just as good if not better than Disneyland freedom lands seemed well positioned to be a success he had plenty of attractions space and promotion but there was one major problem that the park would face it would have to operate seasonally due to New York's climate and leisure habits it was decided to operate freedom land from June to October every year this meant that in order to break even freedom land would need to attract 2 million visitors in its first season although the team was aiming for 4.5 million this was going to be difficult many including Walt Disney himself were not sure that East Coast audiences would be as receptive to Disneyland type parks as the West Coast had been it was a gamble perhaps Woods greatest yet but if it were to fail the main burden would fall to his investors for now though freedom lands future was bright a few widely published incidents would occur in the first few months of operation just after opening one of the stagecoaches overturned when the horses were spooked by the trains whistle 10 people including three children were injured two were hospitalized on August 27th one more robbery than planned was performed at the park when three men held up the cash Control Center for real they were shortly identified after one of the robbers read in the paper that they had stole a total of $28,000 when he had only received $5,000 after doing the math he was so angry that he turned himself and the two others into the police in the last few weeks of freedom lands first season reports began to emerge detailing financial trouble the park apparently even before the park opened wooden company had run out of money offering Webb & Knapp stock in the park rather than paying their rent which ii Orphic greed to the financial issues continued as the construction costs rose and some major investors pulled out to supplement this Zeckendorf increased his share soon Zeckendorf was a controlling shareholder owning 40% in IRC Zeckendorf stepped in and began operating the park pushing out many of Woods men including Fred Schumacher in the final weeks before Freedomland closed for the season the operating schedule was changed to weekends only leaving many weekday guests confused when they arrived at the closed park for a quarter they were invited to tour the non operating grounds October 30th 1960 would be the final day of freedom lands first operating season the park had only managed to draw 1.5 million visitors missing the necessary amount by half a million and falling far short of their goal for 4.5 million by this point wood and Marco had moved on to their next project a new park named Six Flags Over Texas to open in Arlington the following year this left Zeckendorf with the keys to a failing park atop his lucrative land the only way out that he could see was to invest more into the project to live entertainment venues were added the Hollywood arena in the San Francisco section and the Moon Bowl in satellite city however the financial issues continued to pile up Zeckendorf was already having a difficult time keeping ahold of web and apps real-estate Empire and Freedomland continued to be a money pit still he hoped to turn it around with the World's Fair just three seasons away perhaps the park could turn a profit yet second Dorf tried every trick that he knew including restructuring assets between his companies to flow as much cash into Freedomland as possible ambitious plans for a freedom land in were scrapped and cheap amusements were added in an attempt to make a few quick bucks nothing seemed to work and the park continued to lose money after the 1962 season the tornado darkride was sold to Kennywood in Pennsylvania and other rides were put up for sale Webb & Knapp began to auction the unused land surrounding freedom land as Zeckendorf Empire continued to crumble Zeckendorf tried to extend freedom lands operating season opening in late April for the 1963 season and even considering putting on Christmas and winter activities these would not come to fruition on May 16 1964 freedom land would open for its fifth season as the opening approached rumor circulated that freedom land might be sold and moved to Florida although park officials stated that they were optimistic about their future in New York especially since the World's Fair had opened the previous month in July it was reported that Zeckendorf and Webb & Knapp had relinquished their controlling stake in the National Development Company which had managed the land under freedom land as well as selling their shares in IRC both companies would go to Zeckendorf long-term collaborator and president of the National Development Company Hyman green Green was certain that with both the park and the land under his control he would be able to save freedom land again citing the crowds coming to the New York World's Fair however his confidence was misplaced on September 13th 1964 freedom land closes gates for the season the next day it filed for bankruptcy the park was said to have been twenty seven million dollars in debt Hyman and Zeckendorf believed that they could sell a large portion of freedom land downsizing the theme park from its original 85 acres to a mere 30 but this never happened freedom land was closed forever most of the parks rides would be sold and relocated to other parks around the country most notably earthquake and Buccaneers which would be moved to Cedar Point in Sandusky Ohio the latter being renamed to pirate ride Zeckendorf would admit that freedom land had been one of web and apps biggest failures coming at the worst possible time for the firm his empire which once had over 300 million dollars in real estate was no more and freedom land would forever be cited as one of the main reasons there was one silver lining the land under freedom land was still valuable and will be sold to the United housing foundation who on February 9th and 1965 would announce their plans for the world's largest housing development to be named co-op city the 300 million dollar project would see high-rise residential buildings towering over the land on which freedom land once stood co-op city still remains today and a portion of the land is still technically zoned for amusement operations [Music] freedom lands quick demise left many wondering what happened how did if hark so grand fail so fast the most glaring factors were the parks high construction costs and its seasonal operation schedule both of which limited the park success before opening day however this does not explain my Freedomland missed its attendance projections these might have been inflated to begin with but many speculate the freedom lands model was already outdated by the time that had opened the park might have been a better bigger Disneyland but it was a better version of the original 1955 Disneyland by 1959 Disneyland had added three groundbreaking signature attractions and amusement parks around the country began to add large thrill rides of which freedom land had none which could have hurt the parks popularity the most compelling theory to the park's demise comes from freedom land historian and author michael virgin t no version t no tracks a series of evidence that suggests that co-op city was planned for the parks real estate for some time possibly even before the park was built in a 1970 newspaper article Zeckendorf claimed that quote freedom land was a device to hold the land and that was sound suggesting that the park was always meant to be temporary there remains many uncertainties partly because Zeckendorf himself has given contradictory accounts of his involvement with the park but there is evidence that suggests that at some point in freedom lands lifespan possibly even from its inception co-op city was planned and if this is the case then more than just second Dorf would be at fault for freedom lands failure a part of the blame would fall on city planner Robert Moses who helped aid co-op city's development as part of his housing renewal strategy for the city the construction of co-op city was reported to be the fulfillment of a Moses dream perhaps if the park had proved more profitable in its first few seasons it could have lasted longer but in the end the world's largest entertainment center would last a mere five seasons however that was all the time that it needed to make a lasting impression on its guests many of which fondly remember their trip to the country's past through the lens of freedom land USA by this point in the late 60s CV wood was off on other ambitious projects continuing to play the same game he always had finding success in the most unlikely of places in everything from chili cook-offs to african diamond mines in 1968 he was somehow able to convince City of London to allow him to purchase the famous London Bridge dismantle it and move it to Arizona a gamble that only woody could see through supposedly what he never felt the freedom land was fully finished and believed that the financial troubles early on kept it from becoming the park that he had originally envisioned while many of woods business associates such as Van France would return to work at Disneyland Walton woody never reconciled their differences after his departure from Disneyland their distaste for one another only grew during the construction of Freedomland Wood was billing himself as the master builder of Disneyland implying to his investors that he had played a part in designing Walt's Park Walt soon learned of this and would take wood to court over the matter asking that he stop implying that he had a hand in designing the park wood would stop promoting himself as the master builder of Disneyland at least publicly as a result of the suit it is rumored that this also led to wood exiting the amusement park industry after consulting on Six Flags Over Texas allegedly Walt's even had a hand in the failure of freedom land after filing for bankruptcy freedom land would cite one key reason for its failure it would not blame the expensive construction seasonal operation schedule or even the lack of thrill rides for its demise it would instead blame the 1964 New York World's Fair the very fair that the freedom land team hoped would save the park quickly became the go-to excuse for its inability to attract crowds in its final operating season the official reason was the fair the fair that had been built by New York's infamous master builder Robert Moses and that had been populated with groundbreaking attractions by Walt Disney [Music] [Music]

Channel: Defunctland

Views: 781,874

Rating: 4.9239902 out of 5

Keywords: defunctland, kevin perjurer, theme park, extinct, abandoned, defunct, history, disney, disneyland, disney world, previous, attractions, on ride, lights on, freedomland u.s.a., freedomland, freedomland history, theme park history, amusement park history, new york amusement parks, coney island, new york theme parks, new york history, new york theme park history, new york, bronx, bronx history, bronx theme park, co-op city, co-op city history, disneyland history, walt disney history

Id: ZSMVeypDWog

Length: 29min 50sec (1790 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 07 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Bear_Ohara]

Deep voice “him Kevin purjurorwrer” love defunctland so much.

[u/Darth_Hobbes]

I'm only halfway through the video, but this place sounds great! I would absolutely attend a reboot, if they handled controversial things a bit more sensitively.