Chicagoland’s Vanished Amusement Parks

With a plethora of activities for the whole family, Navy Pier serves as Chicago’s de facto amusement park. Check out our Many Lives of Navy Pier adventure to learn about its history and our Treasure Hunt, which takes you to eight stops at the pier.

By Dave Lifton (@daveeatschicago)

In the aftermath of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, entrepreneurs in Chicago sought to capitalize on the success of the mile-long Midway Plaisance, the green space that featured amusements, the world’s first Ferris wheel, and other attractions. The next summer, Paul Boyton’s Water Chute opened at the corner of 63^rd and Cottage Grove in Woodlawn. The ride consisted of a boat speeding down a ramp into a pool—a precursor to the modern log flume. 

Boyton moved his chutes to East Garfield Park in 1896. By the time it closed in 1907, several other amusement parks debuted on the South Side, including Sans Souci (1899-1913) and Luna Park (1907-11). White City, which opened in 1905 at 6300 South Parkway (now Martin Luther King Dr.), lasted the longest. Designed to evoke the recent nostalgia of the fair, White City dazzled with a 300-foot tower lit by 20,000 bulbs, nightly re-creation of the Great Chicago Fire, gondola ride, roller coasters and a water chute, plus plenty of entertainment options for adults. However, the rides couldn’t withstand the Great Depression and ceased operations in 1934. But the dance hall, roller-skating rink, and bowling alley remained into the 1950s.

White City was more than just a name; it was a policy. As the South Side’s demographics were changing due to the Great Migration, Blacks were banned from White City. To combat this, a group of leading African Americans opened Joyland Park in 1923 at 33^rd and Wabash. The two-acre park featured a merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, a pair of rides called the Whip and Venetian Swing, and dancing with music by the Joyland Jazzers. However, it only lasted until 1925.

During the Depression, Art Fritz offered pony rides to children in Melrose Park. After buying a few miniature cars, he gave it the name Kiddieland and turned it into an amusement park aimed at younger children. By 1950, it had 15 rides, including the Little Dipper roller coaster, train rides, and a merry-go-round. Its success led to similar parks in the area, such as Kiddie Town (Harwood Heights), Hollywood Kiddieland (Lincolnwood), Playland Park (Justice), Adventureland (Addison), and Fairyland (Lyons).

But a long-running dispute between Fritz’s children (who owned the land) and his grandchildren (who owned the park) led to its closure in 2009. Kiddleland’s sign is on display at the Melrose Park Public Library, and the Little Dipper is now at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, and the Roto Whip is at Santa’s Village in Dundee.

Chicago’s most beloved amusement park was Riverview on the North Side at the corner of Belmont and Western. Founded in 1904 as a skeet-shooting range, rides were added a few years later for women and children, starting with a hand-carved carousel that had 72 horses and four chariots. In the mid-1920s, The Bobs, a wooden roller coaster with a drop of nearly 60 feet, was added. By the 1950s, the 70-acre park became the place for Chicagoans to, as its slogan said, “Laugh Your Troubles Away.” Riverview had grown to 40 major rides and attractions, including four other coasters, the Aladdin’s Castle funhouse, and the Pair-O-Chutes parachute drop, which even got a shoutout in the Beach Boys’ 1965 song, “Amusement Parks, U.S.A.”

However, not even that endorsement could save Riverview. In 1967, the park closed under somewhat mysterious circumstances. Some blamed higher real estate taxes as attendance declined, others on reports of increased crime. The fact that it had an openly racist dunk tank during the height of the Civil Rights Movement couldn’t have helped, either. These days, the only reminders of Riverview are the name of the strip mall and a colorful sculpture outside the police station that exist on the former site.

Lastly, there was Old Chicago, which opened in Bolingbrook in 1975. It was the world’s first indoor amusement park, and it was combined with a shopping mall. Like White City, the idea, with both the interior and exterior design, was inspired by the 1893 World’s Fair. Its 283,200 square feet of park was topped off by a 16-story dome, and it included a circus and vaudeville theater.

But it was saddled with problems from the beginning. Although it had 15,000 guests at its opening and averaged 50,000 people per weekend in its earliest days, cost overruns meant that it was close to bankruptcy within six months. The decision to feature local shops and boutiques instead of national chains and department stores meant that the mall failed to attract repeat customers.

A year later, Marriott’s Great America (now Six Flags Great America) opened, killing any momentum Old Chicago may have had. By 1978, the park closed on Mondays and Tuesdays to save money. It stumbled along until March 1980, when it shuttered for good, and was demolished in 1986. Amazon purchased the site in 2020 for $50 million.

Nowadays, amusement parks are sophisticated and elaborate destinations, with ever-more thrilling rides and attractions and modern conveniences. But there’s something special about those old, local parks that, even though they are long gone, will always live on in our hearts.