"The City Park Carousel is a "Three Abreast" C.W. Parker "Jumping Horse Carry-US-All" having thirty-six horses, one lovers tub, and one chariot. Records from the C.W. Parker factory identify the City Park machine as "#72 Three abreast." The brass plate which bore the machine 1 s number and was attached to the center pole has been lost. The factory record states that machine #72 was first sold in 1911 to the Exposition & Amusement Company for $5,160.00, and was returned to the factory in 1914 and resold to J. J. McQuillian,owner of the Lake Minnequa Park, Pueblo, Colorado, in 1914 for $3,075.00. The record also notes that when the machine was purchased no organ, organ drive, or tent top was supplied.
There are no records of changes made to the Carousel when it was returned to the factory in 1914. A C.W. Parker advertisement for a reconstructed carousel (not the City Park Carousel) states: "All broken, damaged, or badly worn parts replaced with new and entire machine thoroughly overhauled, repainted, and redecorated and practically good as new for money making purposes."
The City Park Carousel was one of the last "Carry-US-All" to be constructed in Parker's Abilene, Kansas factory. A sign which appears on the .Carousel in the earliest known photograph of the Carousel from the John Suhay collection 3reads: Made completely by C.W. Parker, Abilene, Kansas, largest and only Manufacturer of Amusement Devices in the World." In late 1911 Parker moved his company from Abilene to Leavenworth, Kansas. Many of the shoes on the horses bear the inscription, "C.W. Parker, Leavenworth, Kansas." This information indicates that when the Carousel was returned to the factory, then in Leavenworth, refurbishing included the replacement of missing shoes or the replacement of some horses.
A May 24, 1914 advertisement, appearing in the Star Journal, for the Sunday, May 24th grand opening of the park, describes the Carousel as a "$7,000 0 Merry-Go-Round with 36 flying horses, chariots, and lover's tubs etc." The earliest known picture of the Carousel at the amusement park shows it outside with a tent top. A 1940 aerial photograph of the amusement park shows the Carousel housed in a large polygonal structure." (from (
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There is a weight limit of 200 pounds to protect the horses. (
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