Trolley Park: Great Lakes

- [Narrator] Next on "Trolley Park," see the last trolley park still in operation on the shores of the Great Lakes, and meet the families that have kept these parks going for generations on "Trolley Park: Great Lakes."

(upbeat rock music) (people exclaiming in excitement) - [Narrator] This program was made possible in part by Rochester Area Community Foundation, connecting philanthropy to community impact across eight counties, from education and equity to the arts and environment.

More at racf.org.

And by Curtze Food Service, family-owned since 1878, providing a full line of food service products to the hospitality industry.

Additional funding provided by... (no audio) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) - [Narrator] There was a time in this country when in almost any city, you could ride a trolley.

(gentle orchestral music) In the early 1900s, trolley companies operated over 17,000 miles of track.

(gentle orchestral music) These companies started buying land at the end of the line, adding picnic areas, playgrounds, and carousels.

(gentle orchestral music) These trolley parks helped usher in the golden age of amusement parks.

(gentle orchestral music) Once, there were over 1,000 trolley parks.

(gentle orchestral music) Now, only a dozen remain.

(gentle orchestral music) This is the story of two of those trolley parks.

(gentle piano music) (gentle piano music continues) (gentle piano music) The Great Lakes region was once home to dozens of trolley parks.

(gentle piano music) Today, only two remain, Seabreeze Amusement Park on Lake Ontario near Rochester, New York, and Lake Erie's Waldameer Park in Erie, Pennsylvania.

(gentle guitar music) In the late 1800s, the site where Waldameer Park is located was already a popular picnic area.

(gentle guitar music) In 1896, the Erie Electric Motor Company purchased the land and Erie's first trolley park was born.

(gentle guitar music) Waldameer featured dancing and live entertainment as well as picnicking and swimming.

(gentle guitar music) (water splashing) The first carousel appeared at Waldameer in 1901 and was soon joined by other rides and attractions.

(people exclaiming in excitement) In the 1920s, the trolley company was looking to relinquish ownership in the park.

(gentle guitar music) Alex Moeller and his wife Ruth began their long association with Waldameer by leasing the park in 1925.

- The people that owned the park were my parents' best friends, and Mr.

Moeller and I just took an instant liking to each other, and he asked me to come up when I was 11 years old to spend the first weekend after school, I stayed all summer.

I just fell in love with the amusement park and I was a dishwasher all summer, so I asked Mr.

Moeller when he was taking me home if he could give me a better job with more responsibility than a dishwasher, and he said, "Yes, I will, don't worry," and he said, "If you keep coming back and working for me, I'll see you get the park," and that was on a handshake when I was 11 years old.

- And so, his uncle Alex, who wasn't really his uncle, just a good friend, said, "If you come back and work for me every summer, and live with me, and I'll teach you, and eventually take care of my wife after I die, I will give you the park," you know, from 11 years old on, every summer, he would come back to work at Waldameer in various positions and, you know, have breakfast with his uncle every morning, learn from him, be mentored, and eventually, you know, he, you know, became the owner of the park.

I think he loved Waldameer because it was fun.

He enjoyed creating, he enjoyed building, he enjoyed giving back to the community and making a difference in people's lives, and providing entertainment that was affordable for people and trying to... You know, even today, you know, there's not a parking fee, you can walk into the dry park amusement rides for free and you can bring your picnic basket in for free if it's available, you know, have a picnic at a open picnic grove, also, I think he loved the idea of bringing families together, spending quality time together in a safe environment, creating memories.

He never lost the little boy inside of him.

(carousel rattling) (uplifting orchestral music) (child exclaiming in excitement) (uplifting orchestral music) - [Person] Woo-hoo!

Okay, okay.

(uplifting orchestral music) (rollercoaster rattling) It started out with my dad and my mother, there's always a good woman behind a successful man, we know that, and then, my husband Steve came into the park, and now, our son Brian, and he is in the park, as well.

- I met Nancy in Charlottesville, Virginia where I was going to school, we got married and I got a job at the Erie Locomotive Plant, but I kept watching Waldameer on the sidelines, on weekends, I would come and see, I would bring our kids, and sometimes, I volunteered to help because they were short of staff in August, parked cars, you know, ran a ride, things like that, and then, I got tired of big corporate life at GE one day and said, "You know what?

I have a better place to go," and I said goodbye to GE and I said, "Oh, Paul, can I have a job?"

He said, "Oh, I'm not ready for you, can you wait a few months," you know?

And I... So I went back to GE the next day and said, "I didn't really quit yet, can I quit in three months?"

(Steve laughing) And they let me go back, so anyway, I started in... When I was in my early 30s, and I've been here 30 years now.

- Growing up at the park, you know, coming here from such a young age, it's... It's more than... It's a second home, really, and being able to work with my family has been a wonderful experience, and it started, you know, sitting in the money room with Paul, my grandparents at the end of the night, you know, sorting bills from the day and swapping stories about the day, that was Paul's life, this park, it was his passion, growing up and being able to work in that environment, and see that amount of dedication to something, I think, really has instilled not just in myself but in our family and our employees as well how much this place means to not only our community, but anyone that comes to this area.

Erie is in the northwest corner of Pennsylvania and it's an old port town, a lot of manufacturing, maybe less than 100,000 people in the area, so it's great to raise a family and place to meet and enjoy the beach in Presque Isle, a lot of great natural beauty to Erie.

(seagulls calling) - The trolley ride from Erie to Waldameer was about four miles, it took about 30 minutes, what was happening with these trolley companies popping up, they had either picnic or recreational areas along their route or at the end of their route, and it generated business on the weekends for those people in the city who wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle.

I know that, like, in the '20s and '30s, they went through kind of a low time, and then, we just kind of started building the park up when my dad took over and he started adding things over the years gradually, carefully, and he figured in order to grow, to keep people here longer at the park, he wanted to expand into and build a water park.

(water rushing) In order to have enough money to do that, he made the decision to sell... To auction off in New York City the original merry-go-round horses, that was a tough decision, very tough decision, some people didn't agree with it, but in the long run, it's paid off and over and over.

(faint speaking) - The idea at that time of having a water park with an amusement park was very new, that risk, I guess you could call it, to, you know, auction off something so coveted now in order to grow the park and reinvest, I think, was the pivotal moment that Waldameer needed in order to continue to grow into a regional park.

(faint speaking) - That carousel horse behind me is one of the original horses from the original carousel, we purchased our new carousel from Chance, the Chance carousel is not wooden, it's plastic, very bright and colorful.

(upbeat orchestral music) (rollercoaster rattling) So to ride the Ravine Flyer II, it's very fast, you kind of climb up that first lift hill, and up, up, up you go, and then, you know, don't blink because it's a rush, it is just a crazy, wonderful ride that people love.

So the Whacky Shack is one of our most historical and very popular ride.

(faint speaking) You know, some kids are scared when they're little and they have to go with their parents, and maybe, sometimes they're not ready and they have to wait for another year, or they have to wait 'til they're tall enough, but it's... The Whacky Shack, it's just fun, it's just fun.

Rainbow Gardens at the park is very historical, it's an old dance hall, big dance bands would come, and people would come and dance, and the original Rainbow Gardens burned down, I think it burned down a couple times, so this is not the original.

- This is Rainbow Gardens, my favorite room because Disco Spectacular comes in November.

(laughs) (upbeat disco music) There's the disco ball, and Disco Spectacular as well as Paul... (indistinct) We have major events here in Erie because, as you know, Waldameer only exists during the summer, which our summer is very small.

I think Erie people love Waldameer because they can come with their family and friends for the day, picnic in the picnic pavilions that they have offered at no cost, they just can... They can bring their own food, like, a lot of times, I used to come when I was principal at St.

John's and St.

Andrew's and I would come just to watch the kids on the rides, and I would just walk around and see the students and the parents, and it was just a nice, relaxing day in the park just because there's... You don't have to pay to get in.

It's my happy place, Waldameer's my happy place.

We start looking forward to it in the spring, and we went to the kiddy area and there are a couple of rides still there that I rode at age four, so we're talking 63 years ago, and it was the horse and buggy, the rockets, and the boats, and they were just the most magical things to ride on, you would think I was, you know, in some airplane or something, it was just so much fun when you're age four.

- Our kiddy-land rides are some of the oldest in the park, you know, our pony cart ride, I believe is the oldest in 1954, that area was really the start of Waldameer.

Again, the generational aspect of it where there's photos of a grandparent who is now bringing their child to the park on that ride and being able to take that same picture of their grandchild is exactly what this park is here for.

(faint speaking) - The reason that I am so dedicated to making sure Waldameer succeeds is because of all the guests who come to our park.

I can't count how many times I see someone in the grocery store, or out in the public, or here at the park, and they stop me and they say, "Thank you for making..." "Continuing to have Waldameer be free admission, free parking, safe atmosphere so that we can bring our kids, and it's a gem and everyone in Erie should be proud of it."

Waldameer, I feel, is a community park in that it's really owned by the community, it's... And we're just the caretakers and operators of the park.

(gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle piano music) - [Narrator] 180 miles to the northeast, on the shore of Lake Ontario's Irondequoit Bay, Seabreeze Park is operated by a family that has been in the amusement park industry for six generations.

- All right, so then, I'll just have you looking right here, and then, just good smiles, so all right, just looking right here, I'm going to do a couple light tests first.

All right.

Very good.

- Yeah, we're one of the oldest families in the park industry, we started in 1876 in Philadelphia and we started actually manufacturing carousels, our family built six or seven carousels, they built them to operate them, so different family members would take those carousels and operate them around the East Coast, my great-grandfather came with my grandfather as a younger lad and they brought the carousel here, and that's where they got their footprint in Seabreeze.

- [George] When I came here, I was only 12 years old, but we came in in 1904 and put the merry-go-round right next to the rollercoaster.

- So Seabreeze generations, we've been here for three generations, it was George W. Long, and then, the Norris family, and now, my generation, so three generations here at Seabreeze, but we've been in the carousel industry and in the amusement park industry for six generations.

- We were concessionaires, we didn't own the park back then, so we were concessionaires, well, from there, my grandfather was a pretty aggressive guy and he started building more rides around, he built the famous Virginia Reel here, but slowly, we had more concessions here until the '30s when we bought the whole park out from the trolley company.

Seabreeze is a classic amusement park, it has featured so many of the great rides of yesterday, but we're also keeping things very viable with, you know, cutting-edge rides.

(rollercoaster rattling) (children exclaiming in excitement) (uplifting orchestral music) And then, we have a full water park.

(water rushing) (uplifting orchestral music) (indistinct) (uplifting orchestral music) (person exclaiming in excitement) (water rushing) We were here before most other things were here.

(laughs) You know, this was all vacant land, and there was some orchards and things, and then, slowly, the town grew up around us.

- Seabreeze began its life as a resort area in 1865 when George Allen built a hotel out there called the Seabreeze Hotel.

The trouble was it was difficult to get to.

In those early days, the road to Seabreeze was a primitive dirt road, that changed in 1875 when the first railroad was built through Seabreeze, and instantly, George Allen had more business than he could possibly handle.

Very aware of this success was a man named Michael Filon, who was a local politician and businessman, he found 41 investors, and in 1879, opened the Rochester and Lake Ontario railway, at the end of the railroad was a new attraction called Seabreeze Grove, today, we call it Seabreeze Amusement Park, people couldn't get enough of it, they had a dancing platform with a refreshment stand and people would come out by the thousands, there were days where as many as 40,000 people would make their way out to Seabreeze.

In 1903, the first permanent amusement ride came to Seabreeze, it was an early rollercoaster called the Figure Eight, and it was a simple rollercoaster with small dips and hills.

The real change came in 1920, fellow running the park, whose name was Bert Wilson, he saw it as a golden opportunity to build Seabreeze into something new, into something exciting on par with Coney Island right here in Rochester.

They began in 1920 with really ambitious additions, they built a giant rollercoaster which is still there today called the Jack Rabbit, and as the years went on, the additions kept coming.

- [Rob] It's so amazing that here's this ride built in 1920 and it's very, very valid today.

(rollercoaster rattling) (people exclaiming in excitement) - The Jack Rabbit is the oldest continuous-running wooden rollercoaster in the country, it's a rite of passage.

When somebody hits that 48-inch mark, when they're finally tall enough to get on the Jack Rabbit, it is a magical moment for the whole family because the parents did it when they turned 48 inches, and now, to see their kids doing it or their grandparents... We also give out stickers if you ask just to say, "Hey, I finally am 48" and I can ride this ride," and it's a magical experience for kids here at Seabreeze.

- Seabreeze is, like, a place where you can have fun and where you can experience good things and fun things.

(indistinct) - Yeah, it's, like, where you can, like, hang out with your friends and have a good time all day.

(people exclaiming in excitement) - [Kevin] Like most of America, the Great Depression was a challenging time, folks were still coming to Seabreeze, but they weren't spending money on the rides and all the other things that they would typically do.

(faint speaking) In 1937, the park was looking for a new manager and they approached George Long Jr., who had come as a young boy to the park and had been there all his life, and they asked him if he'd be interested in running the park, and he said, "Yes."

He set out on a quest to revitalize the park, he brought a train ride, a motorboat ride, and just a lot of new attractions.

He purchased the park in 1945 for $85,000 and ran it as his own, and so, he built new rollercoasters, he added the ferry land, and he ran that park up until he retired when his grandchildren took over.

- [Rob] When we started taking over the operation of the park in the mid-'70s, I had two brothers, a sister and a cousin, and we were all very active in the business.

- It was before I was born, my dad in the '70s was able to take over from my great-grandfather, and then, he had it through the '80s and the '90s, the 2000s, and then, when I graduated college, I had a more active role in park management.

- Yeah, it was interesting for the next generation, we never said, "You got to do it."

It just worked out, I think that because the next generation had worked here as kids, and I think it also is the park's in a very good position now for them to do it.

(people exclaiming in excitement) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) - It was the end of March 1994 and the workers were getting the park ready for the season, they were up on the roof repairing with tar and blowtorch like they normally did, and in the process, the roof of the carousel building caught fire.

The fire spread very quickly.

(fire blazing) - Took out the carousel and went all the way through the arcade, and then, the whole north end of the park, and really took out quite a bit of our park, maybe a third of it.

- The fire of 1994, losing our family's carousel, was a devastation to all of us, I was in school and my family waited until the flames were out to come and get me, so I only saw the remnants, and the smoke, and the fire department, and all of my family, it was the first time I ever saw my family cry, and it was really hard as an eight-year-old to watch your dad cry and see such devastation in all of their faces and just feel like, "It's over.

That's it, we just lost the whole north end of the park, like, how could we ever do this again?

How could we ever rebuild?

How do we let five generations down by this one fire, because we were doing some, you know, new roofing materials put on?"

So it was really hard, but what is magical is how all of the staff came together, not just my family, but every single part of the team was integral in reopening that summer, and to see the local community come together and be sad with us, but also say, "It's not over and we'll support you, and we're going to come out that summer, and we're going to come out the summer after that," and we were able to rebuild and make this beautiful carousel what it is today.

- The outpouring of support was truly beautiful, and to this day, when you read online, when folks are talking about the carousel fire, people remember where they were on that day.

They remember their reaction and you read about folks driving up to the park just to see what was left at the carousel.

That carousel held a special place in the hearts of a lot of people.

- You know, so we all got together as a family, you know, after the smoke settled, as it were, and said, you know, "What are we going to do?"

And we said, "Well, this is what we do," and we just started really pounding it to get to be able to reestablish the park.

It was quite a challenge getting it back open, but we did, so then, we came to the choice with the carousel, and that was what are we going to do?

How are we going to replace the carousel?

Well, we started out in 1876 building carousels, let's build our own.

My brother George found a great wood carver in California, Ed Roth, it took about a year-and-a-half to carve all the things, and we flew all the horses back here, and found two great painters to paint all the horses and train them on that, and it became a amazing project, you know, we maintained some of these classic rides, especially in the kiddy park, where generations have ridden that same ride and it's still very, very valid.

(upbeat orchestral music) - It's about coming together, and making memories, and having a good time and kind of experiencing more of that traditional-style park, which is what a trolley park is, is that traditional, classic amusement park, we are not a theme park, we do not have a fuzzy mascot, we are just a traditional amusement park and that's what people appreciate.

- Well, one thing about the future of Seabreeze is from our family aspect, we've always had the tenet that we're the custodians of this institution that's bigger than us, and we want this place to succeed, hopefully, we're the team to lead it and the next generation's the team to lead it, and if it's not, we'll figure out the best way to keep it going, because I think it's most important, that it's not just our family, it's the park... (indistinct) You know, Seabreeze has to be here for the future and that's what we want to maintain.

(gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) - [Narrator] This program was made possible in part by Rochester Area Community Foundation, connecting philanthropy to community impact across eight counties, from education and equity to the arts and environment.

More at racf.org.

And by Curtze Food Service, family-owned since 1878, providing a full line of food service products to the hospitality industry.

Additional funding provided by... (no audio) (upbeat string music) (upbeat orchestral music)