6/25/2021
We visited the Idora Park property in June 2021. We got permission from Mount Calvary Pentecostal Church (the property owner) to do this. I don’t recommend entering the property unless asking first. Just a precaution is all.
Also, forgive the lack of audio and any rapid camera movement, my excitement led me to completely geek out, talk a lot, and point a lot. So this video is put together in the best way I could. The old photos of the park are obviously not mine, and I credit/appreciate the many people/photographers who took those. We didn’t walk the north end of the park unfortunately, as we were pressed for time.
History:
Idora Park opened on May 30th 1899 as Terminal Park. A trolley park that had a bandstand, theater, dance pavilion, and several early amusement park rides. Not long after, the park was renamed Idora Park and developed into a full Amusement Park. The Park’s two largest coasters. The first was Jack Rabbit, which originally opened around 1910-1914 as Dip the Dips. For 1924 it was reworked into what everyone would come to know and love as Jack Rabbit. The other was Wildcat, which opened in 1930. This was the park’s main attraction. Wildcat was such a great ride, it was ranked one of the top ten best roller coasters in the world. There was also a third coaster in the park called the Baby Wildcat. A tiny wooden coaster stationed next to the Kiddie Land for children not tall enough to ride the big coasters. For decades, the park would bring a lot of Fun, Entertainment, and Thrills to the people of the Mahoning Valley and surrounding areas in Ohio and Pennsylvania. It was also a great picnic spot, and had many baseball games at its baseball Diamond.
The park started to decline in the 1970s with the closure of the Youngstown Steel Mills. The steel mills closing led to increased unemployment and families moving out of the area. Park attendance slowly dwindled until the owners decided to put the park up for sale in the early 80s. But no one would buy the park.
1983 would be the last normal year for Idora Park. On April 26th 1984, the park was being prepared to open for the season. Repair work was being done on the Lost River water flume ride. The welders working on it went to lunch, when a torch used by one of them ignited the dry timbers underneath the ride. Park owner Pat Duffy Jr. spotted smoke behind the Lost River while on a phone call in the Park Office. He and several others attempted to extinguish the flames with fire extinguishers, but that didn’t help in the slightest. The fire department was called over. Despite having arrived on the scene, the water pressure on the hydrants in the park were less than sufficient. Hoses had to be connected and run to a nearby street. These efforts took longer than anticipated, so by the time they were able to start hosing down the flames, the fire had grown out of control. The entire lower midway was on fire. The fire spread to a lot of the buildings in that section of the park. After the fire was finally put out, eleven concession stands/buildings (Fascination, Skee Ball, Popcorn Shop, Frozen Delight, etc), the Park Office, the entire Lost River ride, and the south 1/3 of the Wildcat were completely destroyed. The efforts of the firefighters were courageous, and they were able to save the 1920s Carousel.
Idora Park opened right on schedule for the 1984 Season. But with a still scorched Midway, as well as leftover rubble and ashes from the fire. This was the last season the park ever operated. Jack Rabbit was temporarily renamed “Back Wabbit” and ran its trains backwards, with the intention of drawing more people to park. But even with this modification, park attendance dropped tremendously compared to the last few seasons. Without the Wildcat operating, the damage done to the park, and the loss of money, the park was as good as dead.
Idora Park was open to the public for the final time on September 3rd 1984. Followed by a private event hosted there. The rides, equipment and props were auctioned off in October of 1984.
Idora Park would sit abandoned for years. A second fire in May 1986, destroyed the buildings on the northwest corner of the park. Those were the Crazy Horse Saloon, First Aid, Kooky Castle, Whacky Shack/Laffin Lena’s, and Helter Skelter. Then in March 2001, a third and final fire would consume the Idora Ballroom, which had been standing since 1910. In July 2001, the remaining structures on the property including the dilapidated Jack Rabbit, and barely standing remains of the Wildcat were razed and cleared off.
Today, trees, brush, and a few crumbled paths are all that remain of the park. On the original property at least. The Idora Park Experience founded and operated by Jim & Toni Amey have a majority of the original props, equipment and remnants of some of the rides preserved and on display. A great way to relive, learn about, and remember Idora Park.