Defunctland: Walt Disney's Childhood Amusement Park, Electric Park

in 1867 William F Cody a 21 year old Union Army veteran found his first profession after the Civil War as a Buffalo hunter for the Kansas Pacific Railroad the skilled marksman went on to kill over 4,000 of the animals in just a year and a half and after out shooting a fellow hunter he won the title Buffalo Bill his accomplishments as a hunter and soldier would result in national fame and dime novels would soon be produced focusing on The Adventures of Buffalo Bill resulting in him becoming a living folk hero starting in 1883 Cody began touring with his own outdoor circus named Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show that featured depictions of life on the frontier this included Buffalo hunts shootouts and horse riding most prominent in the show were scenes of cowboys defending their stagecoaches from native invasions or as they would later be known a deep mischaracterization of events while today the show might appear as a collection of various tropes from the Wild West and stereotypical depictions of indigenous people it is worth noting that many of those tropes and stereotypes that are known today actually came from the Buffalo Bill show which was hugely popular and seen by tens of millions of people Cody even took his show overseas performing at the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris four years later he would perform just outside of the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago after a stint lasting longer than the fair itself Cody would hit the road again touring for over a decade at the turn of the century the show's popularity waned and Cody began playing smaller venues around 1906 he was making his way through cities in the Midwest on a Buffalo Bill parade on one of these days he was riding in his buggy through a small town in Missouri while a little boy mouths agait watched him he invited the five year old named Walter Elias Disney to join him as he rode down the streets of Marceline Missouri as the boy would later recall of the great showman and living folk hero quote I was mighty impressed every lightbulb connects by a wire to a small contact point or front and the return wire carries electricity through the plate brush and wire to light the lamp just a good day's work for new globetrotters [Music] let's take it apart see what makes it click [Music] in the fall of 1895 Ferdinand Haim a successful businessman and Brewer walked into a restaurant in Kansas City Himes bottling plants in st. Louis Illinois and Kansas City Missouri had gained him notoriety and wealth and Heim select was one of the most popular alcoholic beverages west of the Mississippi times three sons Joseph Michael and Ferdinand jr. had been heading the company's Kansas City operation and they had opened a new plan just a few years prior as the 65 year old austrian-born immigrant dined in Kansas City that fall of 1895 his legacy seemed strong and secure which was good because he was about to die suddenly a dog inside of the restaurant charged hime biting him in the calf twice the attack would lead to a severe infection and he would die in October of 1895 the brewery business would be left in the hands of his sons Joseph would be President Michaels superintendent and fur junior corporate secretary shortly after taking over the business the three would make a bold move in constructing a streetcar line to take guests from the city's Market Square to the brewery the line would cost ninety six thousand dollars or around three million dollars today when the streetcars began operating in late 1899 the Himes expected cars full of guests to roll up to their brewery to taste and buy their beer but when crowds didn't materialize the investment appeared as a disastrous move by the three men with their business and their father's legacy on the line the Himes set off to discover what if not beer would attract Kansas City's residents to the brewery soon a light bulb went off in Michaels head the answer light bulbs electric lights were still a relatively new phenomenon Thomas Edison's work two decades prior had led to the practical use of incandescent lamps at the turn of the 20th century a building rigged with electrical systems was still rare and displays of electric lights easily drew thousands especially in the Midwest the Himes imagined a beautiful beer garden with entertainment performances in a showcase of lights to be named electric park by this point electric park was a common name given to similar amusement parks featuring and electricity as an attraction the Heinz beer garden would be themed to a german village and the park would include a merry-go-round a Bandstand and a theater for vaudeville and other performances the architecture would resemble the White City of the Columbian Exposition as well as the popular Coney Island parks in New York City the same her attraction of Kansas City's electric park would be an electric fountain which at night would be the stage for a living pitcher show incorporating lights and actresses dressed as nymphs and mermaids of course being a brewery the guests were encouraged to drink and a pipeline will be run from the plant directly to the park on June 3rd 1911 to the public over 15,000 people crowded the park and with the main mode of transportation being the Heinz streetcar lines travel to the park was utter chaos streetcars packed full of people would be inundated with hopeful visitors jumping through the windows or attempting to climb onto the roofs of the streetcars as they left the station the crowd was so difficult to control the police reportedly quote stopped trying the guests at the park were entertained by a variety of performances which would change from week to week as the crowds kept coming back almost instantly electric park was the premier entertainment destination for Kansas City's residents and right from its opening it would be billed as Kansas City's Coney Island throughout its first few years you would see the addition of a bowling alley a goat ranch fortune tellers and even displays of snakes and elephants a variety of acts would come through electric park including strongmen magicians and strongmen magicians such as Jarrow the strongman who can not only lift 200 pounds over his head with one hand but he could also remove a dollar bill from a fresh lemon we were also multiple acts of blackface unfortunately in 1902 electric Park was so successful that the hives began adding bigger attractions including a loop-de-loop coaster almost identical to the one found at Coney Island this early coaster reportedly had cars that were not attached to the track and no seatbelts although it did feature a slightly elliptical loop reducing the pain caused by the g-force of the circular loop on the rides predecessor the flip-flap Railway opening for the 1902 season and openly advertised as being dangerous it wasn't long until there was an accident on June 22nd 1902 a man named Dudley Van Dyke was riding the loop-de-loop ride when his hat fell off and landed on the track despite losing his head where he completed the ride with the other passengers safe but not content without his hat he for some reason requested to walk onto the track to retrieve it the rides operators for some reason allowed him to do so while the ride was operating and he for obvious reasons was hit by an oncoming car he survived with injuries and sued the park result of the suit was not reported a swimming pool was added to electric park after massive flooding in the spring of 1903 within the next two years even more attractions were added such as the gravity railway the 150 foot toboggan slide a dance pavilion and even hails tours of the world George Hale a Kansas City native and retired fire chief had built one of the earliest simulator rides and debuted in 1904 at st. Louis's World Exposition the attraction had guests enter a faux Railroad couch with employees underneath rocking it back and forth and fans blowing around the room as moving pictures were projected out of the windows simulating the experience of driving through New York soon after this addition an alligator farm opened an electric park created by the famous Floridian alligator Joe alligator Jobe read hundreds of alligators setting up farms and major cities throughout the country he was also known to jump into the exhibits and start wrestling with the creatures he would die in 1915 after losing a battle with pneumonia electric park consistently drew over 10,000 visitors a day in the early 1900's the total nearing 20,000 at its busiest with all the new tractions the Himes were quickly running out of space for their popular amusement park on July 28 to 1906 it was announced that electric park was to be abandoned and a new park would be built on the kansas city driving club's grounds behinds purchased the 28.7 acres for $31,500 with a goal to build a bigger and finer park a White City as they described it again inspired by the white city of the 1893 Columbian Exposition while the original electric park would be north of the city in the East Bottoms alongside the Missouri River the new location would move to the city's south side this was the direction the city was expanding and the new location would allow for a variety of transportation methods as opposed to the one streetcar line the Hein brothers oversaw the construction of their new park which was scheduled to open for its first season in 1907 in the spring of 1906 the Disney family headed by Elias and flora and with their five children Herbert ray Roy Walt and Ruth made the move from the city of Chicago to a farm in a small town named Marceline Missouri Marceline was just under 20 years old being founded in 1888 as a railroad town alongside the Santa Fe railroads new line between Kansas City and Chicago when the Disney's arrived the town already grown to a population of 4,500 people and Marceline's main street Kansas Avenue was now a cozy strip of shops still without pavement in 1906 here one could find anything they needed a place to stay at hots tavern or the allen hotel hardware at the brown hardware company jewelry at searchers jewelry store ice at the RJ doll & Sons ice company and cream at the meriting Creamery farm tools at the Allen implement company and even a haircut at sons tonsorial parlor next to Kansas Avenue was Ripley Square a small park complete with a pond and gazebo while Marceline was a rural small town at the turn of the century it was both unusually economically and socially progressive for its time Walt who had just turned four and his brother Roy who was almost 13 were both excited at the prospect of living on a farm what wouldn't start school for another three years his parents forcing him to wait to go with his younger sister Ruth while he would later admit that it was an embarrassing predicament as far as Walt was concerned school could wait there was fun to be had in the small town and on the farm and these events and misadventures would cement themselves in the memory of the young boy Dwalin Marceline Walt would fish play with animals see his first circus meet Buffalo Bill Cody watch his first motion picture drawn sketch for the first time and see his first play a production of peterpan it was a marvelous childhood in a picturesque town on may 19th 1907 the new electric park opened to guests 53,000 people crowded inside for its opening the new venue boasted twelve rides including the new boat tours a circle swing the mystic shoot a boat ride where guests would brave an incline and glide over a pool of water a new roller coaster the dip coaster a Scenic Railroad which took guests around the outside of the park and a giant merry-go-round said to be the biggest in the country carryovers from the previous electric park included Hales tour of the world and the gravity Railway now refer to as the hooligans slide entertainment from the previous parks such as the fountain show the dance pavilion the German beer garden an alligator Joe's farm reappeared new entertainment venues included a shooting gallery a skating pavilion a Penny Arcade and a large Lagoon the parks new buildings beautiful and grand structures were again adorned with lights this time the amount of bulbs reaching 100,000 the bandstand and vaudeville theater would also return one downside of the move was that the new electric Park was low hated in a relatively dry district and the police board refused to grant the park a license to sell alcohol the Board cited that in its previous location electric park was known to sell beer to young boys and girls the Himes would petition the police to allow them to sell their beer but to no avail despite the lack of alcohol the new electric park would be an immediate success in August of 1908 the park hired an airship and pilot to give rides to guests after the new attraction received little advertising a press agent asked the pilot to fly over the streets of the city and draw guests from their homes the brilliant plan was foiled when a faulty spark plug resulted in the airship falling after a trip of 15 blocks no one was harmed also in 1908 a new ride the tickler was introduced the common amusement ride sawed yes sitting in circular cars and winding down a decline guided by metal rails in 1910 another coaster the spiral coaster was added in June of nineteen eleven a fire broke out at electric Park destroying the skating pavilion the fire caused around 12 thousand dollars in damage the next day newspapers reported that the only reason that electric Park was not quote now a massive charred and twisted ruins is due solely to the fact that the god of weather which has not permitted a shower of rain here since the resort opened in the spring decreed that the winds become unquote the god of weather as per usual did not respond to a request for comment in 1913 another new ride the Ben Hur Racing coaster was added to the park this featured two parallel tracks so that cars of guests could race against one another to the finish at the same time a new attraction named the Bulls of joy was being built the attraction a new type designed by a Kansas City postal worker took us around a large spiral track at 30 miles an hour the Bulls of joy would quickly acquire the nickname bowls of deferred Hope after months of mechanical failures and its eventual closure the park lost $15,000 on the investment but the Himes were not deterred the additions kept coming and electric park even began hosting regular fireworks displays at night the news of the weekly offerings at electric park would be published regularly in the Kansas City Star newspaper and a young Walt Disney was tasked with delivering these papers to several residents of the city his father's bad farming luck had plagued him once again in Marceline after falling into financial difficulty Elias was forced to sell the farm and look for a new profession while he was reluctant to return to city life it seemed he had no choice choosing to move his family to the booming the city there the Disney family would settle in a small house less than three miles from electric park Elias would purchase a route from the Kansas City Star and soon ki Walt and Roy were delivering papers every morning and afternoon the work was hard uncomfortably hot in the summer and unbearably cold in the winter and over the years with Roy taking a job and his father aging it was left to Walt to provide for his family just nine years old during the move there was a clear juxtaposition of his life in Kansas City with his childhood in Marceline and Walt yearned for the days of small-town life even if he had only experienced it for five years still Walt found ways to escape his life on the paper route whether it was performing sometimes dressing as Abraham Lincoln and delivering the Gettysburg Address drawing as he secretly did everyday in school or taking his younger sister Ruth a few blocks down the street to the exciting and beautiful electric park for the young Walt the amusement park was pure wonder it had thrills amusement music and performance the grounds were clean and tidy and the gardens in the center of the park were cared for and kept neat electric park was an exciting escape Walt's favorite attraction was of course the Scenic Railway always a lover of locomotives Walt rode the railway every chance he got and he was once able to pull the cord and blow the steam whistle while would not be able to top life in Marceline electric Park was making a strong impression on a growing Walt Disney in 1917 another coaster the Greyhound Ride was added to electric park the next year an indoor playground the bughouse was added in 1919 michael hime searched for a new alligator wrestler the replacement would be Henrico Pinter jr. billed as alligator boy alligator boy would prove to be slightly less skilled than alligator Joe while alligator Joe's biggest mistake was letting five or so alligators escape the park in terrorized Kansas City alligator boy would make several errors for one he quickly learned the meaning of the phrase don't bite the hand that feeds you although the Edit don't let the alligators you Russell bite the man that pays you to do so might be more appropriate soon after coming to electric park one of our Gator boys alligators lunged at Michael hi scratching his finger luckily hime liked the attention from the encounter alligator boy would soon find himself in more trouble when he lost a battle with an alligator resulting in severe injuries to one of his arms Electric Park success seemed to be limitless times breweries on the other hand were dealing with a huge and unexpected problem in 1920 the prohibition on alcohol in the u.s. began with the ratification of the 18th amendment predictably this was detrimental to the Haim brewery and the hind brothers were forced to pivot to real estate an electric park to supplement the loss of their main business in 1922 electric park saw the addition of a Big Dipper coaster with a height of 80 feet the Big Dipper would be a huge success upon its opening on November 6 1921 Walt Disney watched his father mother and little sister board a train to Portland Oregon this left Walt alone in Kansas City as even Roy had left to seek treatment for health issues however Walt was no longer the exhausted paperboy he had been in the latter part of his childhood then now nineteen-year-old had served in the Red Cross ambulance corps at the end of World War one being deployed to France his passion for art had grown stronger and after returning to Kansas City he had landed a job as a cartoonist and had befriended another artist named uh by works the two would eventually work for an animation company and Walt became fascinated with the craft he began studying and practicing animation in his free time and he eventually built enough confidence to start his own studio where he would create short animations for the local Newman theatre Walt would title two short cartoons laugh-o-grams and would name the studio after them as well as picking up an investor named dr. John Cowles this allowed him to purchase equipment and assemble a team including Iwerks and a high school student named Rudy Ising at the studio what would even befriend a small mouse who would hop up onto his drawing board while he was working this was just one of the many encounters with the animal that Walt would cite later in his life as he tried to perfect his legendary origin story taking a page out of Buffalo Bill Cody's book while working tirelessly at the laugh-o-gram studios route 1922 what would still find time to go to electric park sometimes with icing and other times with dr. Cal's sister-in-law Dorothy what would take Dorothy on date nights to the dance Pavilion at the park laughs a gram would not last after a series of financial setbacks the studio closed and Walt had little more than the film for an Alice in Wonderland live action animation hybrid disappointed with the failure Walt saw little opportunity for an up-and-coming animator in Kansas City he made the decision to move to Los Angeles where his brother Roy was living on August 23rd 1923 Walt Disney headed to Hollywood leaving behind Kansas City and electric park he would miss seeing his beloved park go up in flames by just two years on May 26 1925 a faulty wire on a transformer near the bug house started a fire and a significant portion of electric park and its attractions were destroyed the damages were estimated between 50,000 and 100,000 dollars the hind brothers were devastated especially Michael who considered electric Park to be his greatest creation he was determined to open the park back up for the season placing curtains around the extensive damage and hosting guests for the summer of 1925 unfortunately the financial difficulties of the park were too much to handle and the Himes decided not to rebuild electric Park would close at the end of 1925 reopening only its swimming pool and dance pavilion for the following season two years later Joseph Heim would pass leaving Michael and Ferg jr. to deal with the remains of the park and their real-estate investments which had not been going well between prohibition the closing of their breweries the burning of electric park and their bad investments in real estate the Himes once incredible fortune have been deteriorated to just a few million dollars which was still a ridiculous amount of money Michael Heim would pass away in 1934 just before the rest of his creation burned down as another fire would destroy most of the remaining buildings at electric park including the dance pavilion no cause was determined for the second fire Ferg jr. would live in nother nine years passing away in 1940 three five years later the remains of the park would be removed replaced with apartment housing the original electric park size slightly better fate with the land being dedicated to the public as Hein Park in 1925 and in May of 2019 it was officially renamed to Himes electric park while electric park might be forgotten and long removed the Himes pleasure garden would have more influence on amusement parks than any of them could have possibly imagined Walt Disney was only 21 in 1923 when he left Kansas City for Los Angeles but he was already experiencing a powerful amount of a certain kind of sentimentality a feeling that would drive his work and be the basis for many of his creations nostalgia Walt had fallen in love with Marceline and it had great times at electric park whether it was the feeling of a small town or the excitement of 100,000 lights Walt would remember these experiences and eventually attempt to recreate them however as good as Walt Disney was at looking back at the past he was equally as good at looking toward the future and as the young artist headed for Hollywood he was doing just that [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Defunctland

Views: 643,340

Keywords: defunctland, kevin perjurer, theme park, extinct, abandoned, defunct, history, disney, disneyland, disney world, previous, attractions, on ride, lights on, walt disney, electric park, kansas city theme parks, defunct amusement parks, abandoned amusement parks, theme park history, marceline missouri, walt disney history, imagineering history, disneyland history, main street usa, main street usa history

Id: 8SDSYoEgkN0

Length: 20min 56sec (1256 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 15 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

This was an amazing episode! They just keep getting better and better!

[u/Cascadianranger]

Hes getting better and better. I like how this season feels much more like a cohesive story. Last season had a general Michael Eisner theme but this is a focused look at Walt Disneys life in theme parks and entertainment and showing us the theme and amusement parks of the early days that influence and shaped Walt, all seemingly leading up to the Carousel of Progress and sadly, Walts passing

[u/TheDictator26]

Still waiting on that feature length Michael Eisner biopic...

[u/linskijr]

An absolute banger

[u/kat-that-smiles-back]

Every time I finish a new episode I think, "wow, there's no way it can get better than this!" and I'm always sorely mistaken. The production value of these recent episodes amazes me when compared to the start. And the content is fantastic! It really feels like I'm watching the story of not just theme parks being built and eventually crumbling down, but also the steady rise of the most well-known and well-loved park of all time. Seriously, these are so damn good. Thank you team for working so hard!