By Scout Nicholson / Jambar Contributor
After nearly four decades, people still reminisce about Youngstown’s former amusement park, Idora Park. Due to Idora’s expansive history, the Mahoning Valley Historical Society is creating a permanent exhibit to showcase Idora’s past.
Founded in 1899, Idora Park was originally known as Terminal Park. It was created by the Youngstown Park and Falls Street Railway Co. to increase streetcar ridership on weekends.
- William Lawson, executive director of MVHS, said Idora Park was located at the southernmost terminal of the railway company, near local landmark Lanterman’s Mill.
“Idora Park’s existence really was a lot longer than most of the terminal parks that came up in the 20th or late 19th century, and a lot of them were out of business by World War II or the 1950s at the latest,” Lawson said. “[Idora Park] went until 1984.”
In the 1920s, Terminal Park was purchased by local Youngstown businessmen and renamed Idora Park. After operating the park through the Great Depression, Idora was then purchased by another group that included Patrick Duffy Jr., Max Rindin and Anthony Cavalier, who operated it until Idora’s closure.
Idora Park opened in an era where, after long days of work at the steel mill, people wanted to go out and have fun during the weekends. Donna DeBlasio, former history professor at Youngstown State University, said this was targeted towards the middle class.
“They [questioned], ‘How do you make money when the park’s low times?’, which is going to be weekends and evenings, you build a place where people can go for fun,” DeBlasio said. “This is a whole era where there’s more leisure time available [and] wages are rising,”
Idora Park had many attractions, with its most famous ride being the Wildcat, a wooden roller coaster known for being a rough ride, Lawson said.
The park had a large ballroom that featured performances from Louis Armstrong, Eagles, Left End and the Bay City Rollers. There was also a baseball field where many major league teams played exhibition games.
Lawson said Idora Park was a place where people of all backgrounds could come together to have entertainment-based fun.
“You can’t underestimate just what an important social and cultural hub Idora Park was, because especially in the early 20th century, you had people literally coming from all over the world to work in steel mills to take jobs because Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley were booming at that point,” Lawson said.
Though Idora was a cultural hub to Youngstown, Lawson said it was not free from segregation during the time of Jim Crow laws. Both Lawson and DeBlasio said segregation at Idora Park was less overt and more of an unwritten rule.
“Most amusement parks barred persons of color, particularly African Americans, or like in the case of Idora, they could go one day a week. They were allowed to go, but they couldn’t go in the dance hall,” DeBlasio said.
Idora had a brackish saltwater spring pool, where African Americans were not allowed to swim. After World War II, segregation became a prominent social concern, and Lawson said Idora decided to cover the pool with concrete and make it a kiddieland to avoid conflicts.
Over time, Idora Park started to age, and steel mills began to shut down. The park was difficult to maintain with such wear and tear.
In May 1984, a fire damaged Idora Park. To prepare for the upcoming season, maintenance crews were working on the park. During a break, a spark from one of the welder’s tools engulfed the Wildcat into flames.
“[People felt] shock, grief, dismay — I mean it was all over the news and The Vindicator every day for days and weeks,” Lawson said. “They made a decision to open again without all those attractions … but it really took out so much of the park, especially with the loss of the Wildcat.”
After 1984, Idora Park closed for good. Lawson said the people of Youngstown felt the pain of losing a staple of their community.
Now, Idora Park remains an overgrown field. However, MVHS and Idora Park Experience are working in collaboration to create a museum showcasing the history of the Park.
Check out next week’s edition of The Jambar to learn about Youngstown’s new Idora Park Experience museum.
