Idora Park - Youngstown, OH - Defunct Amusement Parks on Waymarking.com

Opened in 1899 as an urban amusement park served by a trolley line, this park is now completely gone, except for the old Carousel which is now located in Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York City. Listing the park on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993 did no good to preserve it as a succession of fires from 1984 to 2001 destroyed many of the rides and buildings.

In 1985 the Mt. Calvary Pentecostal Church of Youngstown had bought the property with grandiose plans for it. When preservationists attempted to intervene to save the park, the church rebuffed their efforts and in an act of amusement park heresy, on July 26, 2001, rather than remove what remained of the park, they bulldozed and destroyed all that was left of what was once one of America's premier amusement parks.

We who grew up with Idora Park will never forget the thrill of the Wildcat and Jack Rabbit, the dark tunnel of the Old Mill Rapids, the magic of the carousel, the sparks of the Bumper Cars, or the cover of the Caterpillar making the screams louder. While it is a tragedy that Idora Park is gone, the greater tragedy is that the current and future generations will never get to experience and know that special place.

Date Park Opened: 05/30/1899 Date Park Closed: 09/16/1984 Address: Parkview Ave Youngstown, OH USA Current Use or Function: Vacant land Is the park still there?: No If not, what is in its place now?: Vacant land

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