Arcadia
| Type | Arcade Skill-Based Games |
|---|---|
| Park Section | Midway |
| Built | 1909 |
| Opened | 1909 |
| Closed | 1910 (Replaced) |
| Replaced By | Wonderland |
Arcadia was an arcade attraction with skill-based games. It was located in the northern part of the Midway.[1] This attraction was replaced by Wonderland by 1911.[2] The structure burnt down in the Midway Fire of 1911.[3][4][5][6]
Mock Street, located across from the entrance at North High Street and running along the North High Carhouse of the Columbus Railway and Light Company, was renamed Arcadia Avenue in late 1909.[7]
The average trolley park arcade in 1906 had about 15 mutoscopes and 18 phonographs along the walls, with a perfume machine, a stick candy dispenser, a gum dispenser, a scale, a punching bag, a "test your strength" hand gripper and lifter games, a mechanical fortune teller, a postcard machine, an engraving machine, other games around the room.[8] A cashier was generally front and center with view machines and gum dispensers near them. Many featured a piano with snacks and card dispensers nearby. The cashiers were able to provide pennies in change for the machines. A size of the building suggested in 1906 was 40 feet square with free-flowing air.[9]
See Also
References
- ↑ Postcard. 1916. "Olentangy Park midway, postcard." Columbus Metropolitan Library: Columbus in Historic Photographs. 708O451916. Last modified on Dec. 23, 2021.
- ↑ Postcard. "Olentangy Park, Columbus, Ohio." Accessed through the Columbus Metropolitan Library Digital Collections.
- ↑ "Fire at Olentangy Park." The News-Herald (Hillsboro, Ohio). July 27, 1911. Page 1. Accessed through Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Suspect Arson in Destructive Fire at Olentangy Park." Columbus Evening Dispatch, July 17, 1911. Page 1.
- ↑ Photographs. 1911. The Columbus Evening Dispatch. July 17, 1911. Page 1.
- ↑ "Suspect Arson in Destructive Fire at Olentangy Park." The Columbus Evening Dispatch. July 17, 1911. Page 1.
- ↑ "North High Street Carhouse." Columbus Railroads.] Accessed May 23, 2025.
- ↑ Wilk, Stephen R. Lost Wonderland: The Brief and Brilliant Life of Boston's Million Dollar Amusement Park. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2020. Pages 67-69.
- ↑ "The Construction and Operation of Penny Arcades for Service in Railway Parks." The Street Railway Journal. March 24, 1906. Vol. 27. No. 12. Pages 470-471. Accessed through the Internet Archive.