Funfairs and Amusement Parks

I

Introduction

Funfairs and Amusement Parks, outdoor recreation attractions, with a variety of mechanical rides, games, and other facilities that people pay to use. Both funfairs and amusement parks have their roots in the network of leisure patterns that existed in pre-industrial Europe, with the concept of the theme park, where an entrance fee is set, being a 20th-century practice. The roots of the modern amusement park industry can be traced back to medieval Europe and Britain, when pleasure gardens began to spring up on the outskirts of many major European cities.

II

Early History

Pleasure gardens flourished in Britain in the 18th century, due in part to a relatively stable and democratic government and thriving international trade, much of which passed through London. The most famous of these pleasure gardens was Vauxhall Gardens, founded in 1661, with the height of its popularity being in the early 19th century. Other European gardens included Bakken, in Denmark, which opened in 1583 and is the oldest operating amusement park in the world. Vauxhall Gardens became a model for the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen (1843), and numerous other pleasure gardens around Europe. Argued by some historians to be a forerunner of modern amusement parks, the entertainments on offer included theatre shows, firework displays, and dancing and drinking booths. Such was the success of both Vauxhall and the later Tivoli Gardens that both names became generic terms for other pleasure gardens in Europe and the United States. Vauxhall, unlike its continental European counterparts, fell into decay and by 1859 it had closed, with historians blaming the growth of the railway and holiday excursions as a reason for its declining visitor numbers. However, new-style gardens at the edges of large industrial centres, combining the old-style pleasure gardens with other newer attractions were opening, including Belle Vue in Manchester in 1836 and Crystal Palace in London, which opened in 1871.

III

Travelling Funfairs

Ironically, the advent of the railway and the arrival of the Industrial Revolution resulted in a new lease of life for the travelling fairs in the mid-19th century. Travelling fairs had flourished despite centuries of war, civil unrest, plague, and famine in Europe and owed their existence to an international pattern of trade and commerce that underpinned the medieval economy. By the middle of the 19th century, travelling fairs were under threat in Europe with the impact of the urban economy and the Industrial Revolution threatening their existence as markets of trade. The Victorian fairground in its pre-industrial days was seen as a venue for the pursuit of pleasure—a carnival in which all strata of society could mingle and participate in a multitude of experiences and vices. The fairground needed a new attraction, a marvel that would reflect the technical innovations that were prevalent in Victorian society; they needed an industrial revolution. One which would lay the foundations for the modern travelling amusement business: the introduction of steam-powered roundabouts.

IV

Technological Advancements

The harnessing of steam to power a simple roundabout or merry-go-round is first mentioned in 1863 at the Midsummer Fair at Halifax in England. Manufacturers started to produce these revolutionary wonders and the 1880s saw the exploitation of the steam-powered roundabouts by the agricultural machinery company Savages of King’s Lynn in Norfolk. Continental European and American manufacturers adapted the principles of such British manufacturers for their own markets. All manner of previously outdated, wooden, hand-operated rides were transformed into modern-age marvels.

From the 1870s onwards a range of differing rides and designs emerged, including the “Switchback” in 1888 and the English 'Gallopers' in 1891; produced by Frederick Savage, this classic ride became known in Europe and the United States as the “Carousel”. European manufacturers, including Friedrich Heyn of the Molbitz-Neustadt Carousel Industry, and Fritz Bothmann & Gluck, adapted the British concept of a merry-go-round. The continental European and American versions differed from their British counterpart in that the original ride operated in an anti-clockwise direction. The mechanical-technical innovations imported from Europe developed as part of a unique American experience from Coney Island (see below) onwards. The growth of the amusement park there was influenced directly by the concept of the “midway”—an area of a fair set aside for sideshows and other amusements. Complete with the first-ever Ferris Wheel, designed by bridge architect George Washington Ferris, the midway of the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893, with its wide array of rides and concessions, was a huge success and dictated amusement park design in the United States for years to come.