Santa Clara's Amerigoround has surfaced

segerken · Post by **segerken** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 2:07 pm

Santa Clara's Amerigoround carousel has surfaced. As you remember it was removed when Drop Zone was put in. The following was posted on an email group that I belong to:

> Hi all. I got two plesant surprises in reading the current Carousel
> News and Trader.
>
> 1) I am always pleasantly surprised ....
>
> *
> *
>
> 2) The second surprise really took me by real surprise. I was reading
> the article about a carousel that is being restored and will soon
> operate at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. The story of the carousel
> sounded familar but what nailed it was where in the article they
> mention the carousels donators. That's when I recognized the carousel
> and the end of the article confirmed it!
>
> It's Phidelphia Toboggan Company #45!
>
> Yep the same carousel that previously operated at Mariotts Great
> America in the County Fair section! The photos of the restored horses
> look wonderful. It'll be open full time by summer 2007.

SFGAmfreak4life · Post by **SFGAmfreak4life** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 2:55 pm

That's good news. Last year at No Coaster Con Gurnee's GM said that the Ameri-Go-Round will resurface in the park. Gurnee is getting a new GM this year so who knows what is going to happen to it.

imdaman · Post by **imdaman** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 8:36 pm

Thanks for sharing the news! I'm always happy to see a ride moved and restored rather than scrapped.

redfishpaw · Post by **redfishpaw** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 7:14 am

That is great news, I am still wondering where the Gurnee Ameri-Go- Round is. Both rides are historical and are worth quite a bit.

Tanya · Post by **Tanya** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 3:56 pm

I remembered hearing a few years back that it was going somewhere in the NorthWest. I thought it was a done deal. I found these:

http://www.zoo.org/carousel/

Tuesday, September 26, 2000
Antique zoo carousel gets a Seattle home

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By John Johnston
The Cincinnati Enquirer
An antique carousel that had its last go-round at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden 26 years ago has found a new home at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo.

The 50-foot diameter carousel, valued at about $1 million, features 48 hand-carved wooden horses. It was built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Co. for the Cincinnati Zoo in 1918. It operated here until 1974, when Cincinnati Concessions, the company that had owned it since the 1930s, sold it to an amusement park.

For the past five years, the carousel had been in storage at Paramount's Great America park in Santa Clara, Calif. Last year the Alleniana Foundation, founded by carousel preservationists Tom and Linda Allen of Seattle, bought the carousel and donated it to the Seattle zoo.

“We've had a dream for a long time that we'd like to see an antique carousel brought back to Seattle,” says Ms. Allen. “We feel it's an art form and we don't want it lost.”

The carousel is expected to go on display and be operational in the summer of 2001. A $1.5 million fund-raising drive has begun to build a permanent house for it on zoo grounds.

Hand-carved carousels are a rarity. More than 10,000 once dotted the U.S. landscape, but only about 150 still exist, says Ms. Allen, a member of two national carousel organizations.

The Allens spent a couple of days in Cincinnati recently researching the 1918 carousel. They would like its new home to include a display that tells its story through photos, historical information and remembrances.

“This is a real treasure and it's a particularly beautiful carousel,” Ms. Allen says. “I can't help but believe there are people with fond memories of it in Cincinnati.”

that_guy · Post by **that_guy** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 5:16 pm

So these are these the horses from the Ameri go round?

http://www.zoo.org/carousel/horses/horses.html

customfabricators · Post by **customfabricators** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 12:01 pm

redfishpaw wrote:That is great news, I am still wondering where the Gurnee Ameri-Go- Round is. Both rides are historical and are worth quite a bit.

The Gurnee Ameri-Go-Round is packed into shipping crates that are stored underneath the Superman:UF lift. You can also see them off to the left as you exit S:UF.

redfishpaw · Post by **redfishpaw** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 9:41 am

Thanks for finding the link Tanya. The plans for the new location look pretty nice. Hope the Gurnee carousel receives similar attention someday.

Tanya · Post by **Tanya** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 10:12 am

You're welcome! I think I will take my kids and visit it someday.

JW65 · Post by **JW65** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 11:36 am

I didn't realize that the Ameri-Go-Round once located at the Santa Clara park had been a restored, vintage 1918 carousel. I thought it was just a reproduction of an original. What about the Ameri-Go-Round from Gurnee? I know it is no longer in operation, but was it also a vintage carousel?

jonrev · Post by **jonrev** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 2:34 pm

Yes, it opened in 1910 at a park in Kentucky.

that_guy · Post by **that_guy** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 4:48 pm

Ok found this on the Astroworld site, which park did it go to? Anyone know, although the posted closing date seems a little off...

http://www.sixflagshouston.com/rides/viewride.php?id=41

jonrev · Post by **jonrev** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 5:04 pm

I thought the Ameri-Go-Rounds were Philadelphia Toboggan Carousels.

that_guy · Post by **that_guy** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 8:42 pm

jonrev wrote:I thought the Ameri-Go-Rounds were Philadelphia Toboggan Carousels.

Yeah, it doesn't fit in with anything I've heard...

customfabricators · Post by **customfabricators** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 1:04 pm

Both parks had carousels from different manufacturers.

Gurnee had a Dentzel