Idora Roller Skating Palace Idora Park, Youngstown, OH. This photograph was an aerial picture of the park with the big roller coaster up front of this picture. The large building on the right was the Grand Ballroom. The Saloon is on lower left corner of the photo. The big Blue oval was the Kiddieland shadow swimming pool. The thick forest in the park was the picnic area and walking area. Behind that is the baseball field. Source: Cardcow.
Idora Roller Skating Palace Idora Park, Youngstown, OH. The front of the postcard. Glad there was a description about the rink on the rear. Someone who owned this postcard wrote on the side saying, "My brother" and pointed to which. To find him, he is standing facing left of the photo in the right side in about the middle of the rink floor wearing white shirt with vest and slacks. He is standing to the left of this little girl in Blue and White dress who was standing in middle of the floor with a guy wearing white shirt and extreme short tie (those two were looking toward the photographer). Source: Cardcow.
Idora Roller Skating Palace Idora Park, Youngstown, OH. Rear of the postcard. Glad there was a description about the rink. Source: Cardcow.
Idora Roller Skating Palace Idora Park, Youngstown, OH. Top View. It is all back to nature. Source: Pinterest. Copyrighted Digitally Remastered by Dead-Rinks (Cleaned up).
Idora Roller Skating Palace Idora Park, Youngstown, OH. Top View. You can see the baseball field still almost the same shape as the ballfield although trees grew. At the bottom, it was the parking lot. This is why both of them are quite hardened and not able to grow new trees. The Midway path is still there. You can see that North-South path is still there. Why? Vehicles and people and carts really pounded down and can make trees not able to grow. The swimming pool has been filled in but still no trees there either. Real interesting study with this one that how nature works when human shape nature and abandoned it and that is the end result. Source: Google.
Idora Roller Skating Palace Idora Park, Youngstown, OH aka
Idora Park Roller Rink Idora Park, Youngstown, OH
Idora Park Roller Rink Idora Park, Youngstown, OH
Idora Roller Skating Palace Idora Park, Youngstown, OH was part of the Idora Park, a well - known 7 acres Trolley Park turned into a 27 Acres Amusement Park that was operated from 1899 to 1984 with a sad ending.
The Rink history:
They added 20 Acres in 1915 the same year when they reopened the rink in a new building on that newly added property The original that was opened in 1910 became a dinning room restaurant in 1915. The new one was bigger with 60 Feet by 200 Feet main rink with 15 Feet by 200 Feet for beginners however one source said it was 60 Feet by 130 Feet). Conflicting. The original was likely smaller.
However, in 1921 the park moved back the rink to the building previously used as a dinning hall and original location for the rink.
The Park history:
It began in 1899, the "Youngstown's Million Dollar Playground " had its start built by the Youngstown Park and Falls Street Railway Company. Before the fire of 1984, the park was one of the remaining Urban Amusement Park, a class it was in for the city area. it was then called Terminal Park on Decoration Day, 30 May 1899. That name only ran for a year before they renamed it as Idora Park. It was called Decoration Day before it became Memorial Day.
Like any other Trolley Parks, the admission was free because people would pay for the fare to ride on the trolleys/interurban cars to the end of the track to go to the park and ride back home that way.
The first season they had, it was a bandstand, theater, dance pavilion, a roller coaster, a circle swing, and several concession stands. Later, they added more roller coasters, rides, and activities such as Kiddieland which included a large pool.
In 1924, Idora Park ownership with the trolley company ended, the company is sold to the Idora Amusement Company
Funny thing Wikipedia failed to mentioned roller skating on that page! ONLY this one website has partial history up to 1920 did mentioned the roller rink. There is NO contact. Hmm!
Besides it was very popular and did well throughout the years. It faced stiff competition with larger amusement parks. First competition was to compete against other Trolley Parks all over the states-both in Ohio and in Pennsylvania. It did well in that area and the periods of troubled times including both World Wars, the Great Depression, and Civil Unrests.
Second of all, the limitation of size to only 27 Acres which is quite small. That would equal to a firemen's field days/traveling caravel for the weekend at any town. To understand what this is all about, check this site, good to compare what an acre is- An acre is about 75.7 percent of an NFL field. See here. Or 15 tennis courts which is exactly 1 acre total. Now times 27, you would get 405 tennis courts. I have been to New York State Fairgrounds which is 375 Acres and been to the smaller county fair in Miami-Dade County in Florida which is 80 Acres. I can image how small this powerful little park survived all those years. My sister once had a 40 Acre land and it was on a hill. Half of that was easily seen from the road to top of the hill of her land. That is 20 acres. I mowed once a week with a riding mower on that 20 Acres. That is not very big land to put an amusement park on. Clearly this park was built on very tight spot and the buildings, rides, and the rink were very closely built to each other.
When automobiles were widely available to purchase and affordable, trolleys and interurbans were bankrupted and closed. Because of this, Trolley Parks closed.
The reason Idora Park had survived was it had become the preferred location for all local ethnic, church, and company picnics whereas the advantage was easier for any groups, churches, and companies to have their picnics.
The 1984 Fire and troubles afterward -
On 26 April 1984 as it was Spring time with opening soon, there was devastating fire which destroyed the Wild Cat roller coaster, the Lost River ride, eleven concession stands, and the park office. Employees scrambled to save park records, but only some of the most current files were saved, while older files and historical records were lost. Fire spread quickly that employees could not stop the fire with just hand extinguishers.
Twelve, yes, twelve fire companies responded to the wide spreading fire, that the winds carried it across to concession stands and on to the midway. Many off-duty firefighters also responded to the call to help contain flames that spread along the Wild Cat's wooden tracks and threatened the merry-go-round, which was scorched but ultimately saved from destruction. The reason for this easily spreadable fire because of lack of in-park fire hydrants, poor water pressure, and aged wooden rides and buildings. They finally tamed the blaze by running lines to hydrants outside the park.
That questioned of they have any zoning, building codes, and fire codes at every known Amusement and Theme parks to meet or exceeds the requirements to fight a fire. I thought of ideas more than what they do. Have you use garden hose with sprinklers or even the farmers used to sprinkle water with much pressure? They need to have a fixed fire sprinklers for exterior facing all the rides and buildings at any modern amusement parks and rides. I never seen any of this or any fire hydrants at any theme parks I went to (I went to NYS Fair, Miami Dade County Fair, Darien Lake, Storytown, Seabreeze, Roseland, Sylvan Beach, Santa's Workshop in North Pole, NY, Enchanted Forest-Water Safari, and Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom. Gaslight Village. Also Oswego County Fair, Hershey Park, Suburban Park, Williamtown, VA, Great Adventure, the Dark Continent, a water park in Daytona Beach (1970s), Ocean World (Ft. Lauderdale), and Rhinebeck Dutch County Fairgrounds.)
Final damage was estimated in millions of dollars.
However, Idora Park kept operating through the summer of 1984, the answer was evidently a decision was made to close permanently because of many of the main rides were gone. Idora Park welcomed its last visitors on 16 September 1984.
On October 20–21, 1984, an auction was conducted by Norton Auctioneers of Coldwater, Michigan to sell off the rides and equipment. The remaining coasters (Wild Cat, Jack Rabbit, Baby Wild Cat), and many other buildings (Ballroom, Kiddieland complex, French Fry stand) were abandoned.
The saga did not end at that point. In 1985, Mt. Calvary Pentecostal Church in Youngstown bought the Idora Park property including the land and abandoned buildings and abandoned and announced plans for a religious complex, to be named the "City of God". The Ballroom remained open for various events until Memorial Day 1986. The church lost access to the property in 1989 after accumulating more than $500,000 in debt on the land.
What was irony was that former Idora Park owner Max Rindin was asked what would happen to the Idora Park after it closed. Max said “In time, It’ll all be torched.” Gradually, his prophecy came true. Another fire at the abandoned park on 3 May 1986, destroyed the Heidelberg Gardens, Kooky Castle (haunted house), Laffin Lena's (fun house), and the Helter Skelter bumper car buildings which evidently wiped out the rest of the park that fires completed the park by burning in its entirely.
the church failed to build their religious complex, therefore the property decayed. The former park was not secured from trespassers thus, the former Idora Park's remaining structures were eventually vandalized, destroyed by natural elements, or succumbed to arson. it was done but not yet the end.
On 5 March 2001, the final chapter to Idora Park's history was written when the Ballroom burned down. They reported that the fire started in the basement and was suspicious in nature. The Jack Rabbit and other remaining wooden structures were not destroyed by this fire. However, on fateful day 26 of July 2001, the Wild Cat, Jack Rabbit, and all other decaying structures (all unsalvageable) were demolished by bulldozers to prevent any future fires. City officials had asked that the coasters be removed since they were hazardous to the public. This was truly the very end of Idora Park completely.
The church lost the property to foreclosure in 1988, but regained it six years later. Why regain it? They still had that same dream. That is sad. And bad. Mt. Calvary Church subsequently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy by February 2017, with the majority of the outstanding debt being related to the delinquent taxes on the Idora Park property. That hurts the Teen Missions organization. Pray for both that church to repent of its sins and the Teen Missions to be able to raise capital for their own needs to operate. The church needs to sell off the land to pay off debts and get off the tax books.
I am a Christian and this is ashamed! I did not want to talk about this about it but its out in the media and unfortunately, they need to hear from me that they need to repent and sell the land. They cannot afford. If they want a new church, raise money first before you buy a property and built it. I knew 2 churches in Central NY did that way. Maybe 2 more I can think of did the same. They did it successfully raise capital and bought the land and built churches pretty much in 1990s when churches were gaining members around the country when we had 1980s and 1990s revivalism.
The church refused to sell and even a couple who opened a museum on the park wanted to buy the land to built a museum I believe. But the church refused.
The manager was John Perruzzi at one time.
The Interior.
Because of the history they had moved around twice. I only was able to find history up to 1920s but this website this webmaker did not finish the website. he would have finished it all. So far I have partial history.
Original rink was perhaps connected with the postcard.
This postcard truly painted the picture of what the interior was like. Not just the visual but the description on the back. It said it had two sized rinks. One is the main rink and the other the beginners rink. The main rink had was 60 Feet by 200 Feet long. Pretty narrow because right next to it was the beginners rink which was 15 Feet wide by 200 Feet long. Say you are standing from the 60 feet long concession stand, you see two rinks parallel from where you are toward the end wall. That half wall divided the rinks. It was considered big beginners rink because of the length however. It was not wide enough. Must be narrow to allow beginners to hang on to the half wall on their right and go around from one where they entered and skated to the end at 200 Feet away then turn, then turn and skated back hanging on the rail.
The concession stand was quite big too. 60 feet long which is very long one. That raise questions. Did they have a diner style seating stools at the stand just like a diner, drive-ins, or a malt shop in a pharmacy store? Good question! With this length, it would make sense to have seating. If you have been to a diner or a Woolworth store during the 20th Century, you would know although that link showed you a still operational last Woolworth diner. The same way with the last Howard Johnson's Restaurant (Lake George, NY) that has stools at the counter. Please correct me if I err on the counter. But with that length, I know so because the house I am living in has 32 feet long. I have been to rinks and diners and drive-ins all around the country and Central America, from US to Panama, their counters are shorter than the house I am living in!
They had a large balcony for patrons to watch skaters and skating shows as well as competitions. They also had checking room -- room to check in your coats and shoes. Just hand in your jackets, hats, and shoes in the checkroom and they will give you a stub. OR you can ask for your skate case if you rented a space to leave it there and trade that with your jackets, hats, and footwear and put case back there with your shoes, etc. Then you go skating. This is after the admissions. Rinks today do not have that.
They had the regulars stuff like any other rinks: 1000 pairs of skates, Disco ball (mirrored), colorful Disco lights, and the Hammond Organ.
The Exterior.
N/A. In my humble opinion it would have had that Half-Barrel/D-Roof design but funny, there isn't any photographs or any thing connected to between the rink and the Idora Park in many articles. Almost non-existance. Thanks to Cardcow, I was able to see that postcard of the interior. But it brought up a question. Was it part of the Ballroom actually? That remains to be asked or seen. Why websites are excluding the roller rink for?
The Stats:
Original (1910 to 1915) Rink Size: N/A. Floor: N/A. Floor Layout: N/A.
Main (1915 to) Rink Size: 60' x 200' (one source said 60' x130') Floor: N/A. Floor Layout: N/A.
Beginners(1915 to) Rink Size: 15' x 200' Floor: N/A. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: 22,000 sf. Built: First one: 1910, second one: 1915. Renovations: N/A. Demolished: Fire.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Trusses Steel - Walled Warehouse - like Building.
Roof: Gabled.
Acres: 27.000 AC. (originally was 7 Acres!)
Organ: Electric Hammond.
Operated: (Overall)-- Decoration Day, 30 May 1899 to Sunday, 16 September 1984 (Park) (Overall for rink): N/A.
Terminal Park: Decoration Day, 30 May 1899 to September 1899
Idora Park: May 1900 to Sunday, 16 September 1984
Idora Roller Skating Palace: 1910 to 1915
Idora Roller Skating Palace (2): 1915 to 1915
Reason for Closure: N/A.
Terminal Park: Name changed.
Idora Park: The great Idora Park Fire of 1984 really made a huge loss of customers not coming during 1984 after the fire.
Idora Roller Skating Palace: N/A.
(First rink): Relocate to newer facility on parkgrounds.
(Second rink): Relocated back to original.
(Rebooted First rink): Fire?
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/closed, why closed, size of rink, rink materials. Also photos/articles. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at [email protected]. Thank you. You can also use this form.
Sources:
Wikipedia - Idora Park
Business Journal - Problems facing the church and the Idora Park properties.
Cardcow - Postcard front and back.
WKBN 27 - Museum on Idora Park.
Wikiwand - Wikipedia style. Idora Park.
Idora Park Experience Museum - only opens TWO days per year! (wish they open more days!)
Mahoning History - Idora Park history.
WKBN 27 - Church refused to sell to museum.
Flickr - The Ballroom. Was this the one and same as roller rink?
The Jam Bar - Commentary about history of the park.
WKBN 27 - Memories of the park after fire.
Idora Park - History about Idora Park.
Pinterest - the fire.
Map illustration - excluded the rink!
Worth to visit:
Idora Park Experience Museum - only opens TWO days per year! (wish they open more days!)
Jane's Carousel - 1922 Carousel at Idora Park still operational today in Brooklyn Bridge Park at 65 Water Street in Brooklyn, New York, United States.
Date of issue: 18 December 2021.
For office use only:
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 and 16.
The Rink history:
They added 20 Acres in 1915 the same year when they reopened the rink in a new building on that newly added property The original that was opened in 1910 became a dinning room restaurant in 1915. The new one was bigger with 60 Feet by 200 Feet main rink with 15 Feet by 200 Feet for beginners however one source said it was 60 Feet by 130 Feet). Conflicting. The original was likely smaller.
However, in 1921 the park moved back the rink to the building previously used as a dinning hall and original location for the rink.
The Park history:
It began in 1899, the "Youngstown's Million Dollar Playground " had its start built by the Youngstown Park and Falls Street Railway Company. Before the fire of 1984, the park was one of the remaining Urban Amusement Park, a class it was in for the city area. it was then called Terminal Park on Decoration Day, 30 May 1899. That name only ran for a year before they renamed it as Idora Park. It was called Decoration Day before it became Memorial Day.
Like any other Trolley Parks, the admission was free because people would pay for the fare to ride on the trolleys/interurban cars to the end of the track to go to the park and ride back home that way.
The first season they had, it was a bandstand, theater, dance pavilion, a roller coaster, a circle swing, and several concession stands. Later, they added more roller coasters, rides, and activities such as Kiddieland which included a large pool.
In 1924, Idora Park ownership with the trolley company ended, the company is sold to the Idora Amusement Company
Funny thing Wikipedia failed to mentioned roller skating on that page! ONLY this one website has partial history up to 1920 did mentioned the roller rink. There is NO contact. Hmm!
Besides it was very popular and did well throughout the years. It faced stiff competition with larger amusement parks. First competition was to compete against other Trolley Parks all over the states-both in Ohio and in Pennsylvania. It did well in that area and the periods of troubled times including both World Wars, the Great Depression, and Civil Unrests.
Second of all, the limitation of size to only 27 Acres which is quite small. That would equal to a firemen's field days/traveling caravel for the weekend at any town. To understand what this is all about, check this site, good to compare what an acre is- An acre is about 75.7 percent of an NFL field. See here. Or 15 tennis courts which is exactly 1 acre total. Now times 27, you would get 405 tennis courts. I have been to New York State Fairgrounds which is 375 Acres and been to the smaller county fair in Miami-Dade County in Florida which is 80 Acres. I can image how small this powerful little park survived all those years. My sister once had a 40 Acre land and it was on a hill. Half of that was easily seen from the road to top of the hill of her land. That is 20 acres. I mowed once a week with a riding mower on that 20 Acres. That is not very big land to put an amusement park on. Clearly this park was built on very tight spot and the buildings, rides, and the rink were very closely built to each other.
When automobiles were widely available to purchase and affordable, trolleys and interurbans were bankrupted and closed. Because of this, Trolley Parks closed.
The reason Idora Park had survived was it had become the preferred location for all local ethnic, church, and company picnics whereas the advantage was easier for any groups, churches, and companies to have their picnics.
The 1984 Fire and troubles afterward -
On 26 April 1984 as it was Spring time with opening soon, there was devastating fire which destroyed the Wild Cat roller coaster, the Lost River ride, eleven concession stands, and the park office. Employees scrambled to save park records, but only some of the most current files were saved, while older files and historical records were lost. Fire spread quickly that employees could not stop the fire with just hand extinguishers.
Twelve, yes, twelve fire companies responded to the wide spreading fire, that the winds carried it across to concession stands and on to the midway. Many off-duty firefighters also responded to the call to help contain flames that spread along the Wild Cat's wooden tracks and threatened the merry-go-round, which was scorched but ultimately saved from destruction. The reason for this easily spreadable fire because of lack of in-park fire hydrants, poor water pressure, and aged wooden rides and buildings. They finally tamed the blaze by running lines to hydrants outside the park.
That questioned of they have any zoning, building codes, and fire codes at every known Amusement and Theme parks to meet or exceeds the requirements to fight a fire. I thought of ideas more than what they do. Have you use garden hose with sprinklers or even the farmers used to sprinkle water with much pressure? They need to have a fixed fire sprinklers for exterior facing all the rides and buildings at any modern amusement parks and rides. I never seen any of this or any fire hydrants at any theme parks I went to (I went to NYS Fair, Miami Dade County Fair, Darien Lake, Storytown, Seabreeze, Roseland, Sylvan Beach, Santa's Workshop in North Pole, NY, Enchanted Forest-Water Safari, and Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom. Gaslight Village. Also Oswego County Fair, Hershey Park, Suburban Park, Williamtown, VA, Great Adventure, the Dark Continent, a water park in Daytona Beach (1970s), Ocean World (Ft. Lauderdale), and Rhinebeck Dutch County Fairgrounds.)
Final damage was estimated in millions of dollars.
However, Idora Park kept operating through the summer of 1984, the answer was evidently a decision was made to close permanently because of many of the main rides were gone. Idora Park welcomed its last visitors on 16 September 1984.
On October 20–21, 1984, an auction was conducted by Norton Auctioneers of Coldwater, Michigan to sell off the rides and equipment. The remaining coasters (Wild Cat, Jack Rabbit, Baby Wild Cat), and many other buildings (Ballroom, Kiddieland complex, French Fry stand) were abandoned.
The saga did not end at that point. In 1985, Mt. Calvary Pentecostal Church in Youngstown bought the Idora Park property including the land and abandoned buildings and abandoned and announced plans for a religious complex, to be named the "City of God". The Ballroom remained open for various events until Memorial Day 1986. The church lost access to the property in 1989 after accumulating more than $500,000 in debt on the land.
What was irony was that former Idora Park owner Max Rindin was asked what would happen to the Idora Park after it closed. Max said “In time, It’ll all be torched.” Gradually, his prophecy came true. Another fire at the abandoned park on 3 May 1986, destroyed the Heidelberg Gardens, Kooky Castle (haunted house), Laffin Lena's (fun house), and the Helter Skelter bumper car buildings which evidently wiped out the rest of the park that fires completed the park by burning in its entirely.
the church failed to build their religious complex, therefore the property decayed. The former park was not secured from trespassers thus, the former Idora Park's remaining structures were eventually vandalized, destroyed by natural elements, or succumbed to arson. it was done but not yet the end.
On 5 March 2001, the final chapter to Idora Park's history was written when the Ballroom burned down. They reported that the fire started in the basement and was suspicious in nature. The Jack Rabbit and other remaining wooden structures were not destroyed by this fire. However, on fateful day 26 of July 2001, the Wild Cat, Jack Rabbit, and all other decaying structures (all unsalvageable) were demolished by bulldozers to prevent any future fires. City officials had asked that the coasters be removed since they were hazardous to the public. This was truly the very end of Idora Park completely.
The church lost the property to foreclosure in 1988, but regained it six years later. Why regain it? They still had that same dream. That is sad. And bad. Mt. Calvary Church subsequently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy by February 2017, with the majority of the outstanding debt being related to the delinquent taxes on the Idora Park property. That hurts the Teen Missions organization. Pray for both that church to repent of its sins and the Teen Missions to be able to raise capital for their own needs to operate. The church needs to sell off the land to pay off debts and get off the tax books.
I am a Christian and this is ashamed! I did not want to talk about this about it but its out in the media and unfortunately, they need to hear from me that they need to repent and sell the land. They cannot afford. If they want a new church, raise money first before you buy a property and built it. I knew 2 churches in Central NY did that way. Maybe 2 more I can think of did the same. They did it successfully raise capital and bought the land and built churches pretty much in 1990s when churches were gaining members around the country when we had 1980s and 1990s revivalism.
The church refused to sell and even a couple who opened a museum on the park wanted to buy the land to built a museum I believe. But the church refused.
The manager was John Perruzzi at one time.
The Interior.
Because of the history they had moved around twice. I only was able to find history up to 1920s but this website this webmaker did not finish the website. he would have finished it all. So far I have partial history.
Original rink was perhaps connected with the postcard.
This postcard truly painted the picture of what the interior was like. Not just the visual but the description on the back. It said it had two sized rinks. One is the main rink and the other the beginners rink. The main rink had was 60 Feet by 200 Feet long. Pretty narrow because right next to it was the beginners rink which was 15 Feet wide by 200 Feet long. Say you are standing from the 60 feet long concession stand, you see two rinks parallel from where you are toward the end wall. That half wall divided the rinks. It was considered big beginners rink because of the length however. It was not wide enough. Must be narrow to allow beginners to hang on to the half wall on their right and go around from one where they entered and skated to the end at 200 Feet away then turn, then turn and skated back hanging on the rail.
The concession stand was quite big too. 60 feet long which is very long one. That raise questions. Did they have a diner style seating stools at the stand just like a diner, drive-ins, or a malt shop in a pharmacy store? Good question! With this length, it would make sense to have seating. If you have been to a diner or a Woolworth store during the 20th Century, you would know although that link showed you a still operational last Woolworth diner. The same way with the last Howard Johnson's Restaurant (Lake George, NY) that has stools at the counter. Please correct me if I err on the counter. But with that length, I know so because the house I am living in has 32 feet long. I have been to rinks and diners and drive-ins all around the country and Central America, from US to Panama, their counters are shorter than the house I am living in!
They had a large balcony for patrons to watch skaters and skating shows as well as competitions. They also had checking room -- room to check in your coats and shoes. Just hand in your jackets, hats, and shoes in the checkroom and they will give you a stub. OR you can ask for your skate case if you rented a space to leave it there and trade that with your jackets, hats, and footwear and put case back there with your shoes, etc. Then you go skating. This is after the admissions. Rinks today do not have that.
They had the regulars stuff like any other rinks: 1000 pairs of skates, Disco ball (mirrored), colorful Disco lights, and the Hammond Organ.
The Exterior.
N/A. In my humble opinion it would have had that Half-Barrel/D-Roof design but funny, there isn't any photographs or any thing connected to between the rink and the Idora Park in many articles. Almost non-existance. Thanks to Cardcow, I was able to see that postcard of the interior. But it brought up a question. Was it part of the Ballroom actually? That remains to be asked or seen. Why websites are excluding the roller rink for?
The Stats:
Original (1910 to 1915) Rink Size: N/A. Floor: N/A. Floor Layout: N/A.
Main (1915 to) Rink Size: 60' x 200' (one source said 60' x130') Floor: N/A. Floor Layout: N/A.
Beginners(1915 to) Rink Size: 15' x 200' Floor: N/A. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: 22,000 sf. Built: First one: 1910, second one: 1915. Renovations: N/A. Demolished: Fire.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Trusses Steel - Walled Warehouse - like Building.
Roof: Gabled.
Acres: 27.000 AC. (originally was 7 Acres!)
Organ: Electric Hammond.
Operated: (Overall)-- Decoration Day, 30 May 1899 to Sunday, 16 September 1984 (Park) (Overall for rink): N/A.
Terminal Park: Decoration Day, 30 May 1899 to September 1899
Idora Park: May 1900 to Sunday, 16 September 1984
Idora Roller Skating Palace: 1910 to 1915
Idora Roller Skating Palace (2): 1915 to 1915
Reason for Closure: N/A.
Terminal Park: Name changed.
Idora Park: The great Idora Park Fire of 1984 really made a huge loss of customers not coming during 1984 after the fire.
Idora Roller Skating Palace: N/A.
(First rink): Relocate to newer facility on parkgrounds.
(Second rink): Relocated back to original.
(Rebooted First rink): Fire?
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/closed, why closed, size of rink, rink materials. Also photos/articles. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at [email protected]. Thank you. You can also use this form.
Sources:
Wikipedia - Idora Park
Business Journal - Problems facing the church and the Idora Park properties.
Cardcow - Postcard front and back.
WKBN 27 - Museum on Idora Park.
Wikiwand - Wikipedia style. Idora Park.
Idora Park Experience Museum - only opens TWO days per year! (wish they open more days!)
Mahoning History - Idora Park history.
WKBN 27 - Church refused to sell to museum.
Flickr - The Ballroom. Was this the one and same as roller rink?
The Jam Bar - Commentary about history of the park.
WKBN 27 - Memories of the park after fire.
Idora Park - History about Idora Park.
Pinterest - the fire.
Map illustration - excluded the rink!
Worth to visit:
Idora Park Experience Museum - only opens TWO days per year! (wish they open more days!)
Jane's Carousel - 1922 Carousel at Idora Park still operational today in Brooklyn Bridge Park at 65 Water Street in Brooklyn, New York, United States.
Date of issue: 18 December 2021.
For office use only:
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 and 16.