Forest Park Highlands

Forest Park Highlands was an American amusement park in St. Louis, Missouri. It operated from 1896 to 1963.

Forest Park Highlands opened in 1896 as a beer garden.[1]

Sophie Tucker, John Philip Sousa, and Jack Dempsey appeared there.[1]

It featured a pagoda from the 1904 World's Fair[1] held across the street in Forest Park.[2] It also had a ferris wheel, railway, dodgem cars, tiltawhirls, shooting galleries, doll throws, and wheels of chance.[1]

By 1963, the park was struggling and there was interest in building a community college on the site.[1] A fire on July 19, 1963, destroyed all but the swimming pool and the frame of the wooden roller coaster.[3] Two years later, it was announced that St. Louis Community College–Forest Park would be built on the land.[4][5]

The park's 1920 Dentzel carousel survived the fire and operates today at Faust Park in Chesterfield, Missouri.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Forest Park Highlands Closing Would Be Removal of Landmark". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 1963-01-13. p. 3.
  2. ^ Garner, Doug (2007). Forest Park Highlands. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-5162-3.
  3. ^ "Amusement Park Razed in St. Louis Fire". Chicago Tribune. 1963-07-20. p. 2.
  4. ^ "Out of Ruins, a Campus". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 1965-08-01. pp. 32–33.
  5. ^ "21 Vintage Photos of Forest Park Highlands Amusement Park". Riverfront Times Slideshows. 2016-07-11. Retrieved 2020-04-05.
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