Clementon Lake Park. Coney Island Of South Jersey. Visiting The Park During The 1920's. No AI Slop.

Clementon Lake Park is an amusement park and water park in Clementon, New Jersey. It is one of the world's oldest operating amusement parks and is one of only thirteen trolley parks left in operation. It was independently owned and operated for several decades, and was purchased in 2011 by Clementon Lake Holdings, a subsidiary of Premier Parks, LLC. The park closed in September 2019, and was put up for auction on March 23, 2021. The park in its entirety was purchased by IB Parks & Entertainment, a company operated by Gene Staples, with plans to reopen later in 2021 The park returned to operations on June 25, 2021. History 1907–1919 The park was founded in 1907 by New Jersey assemblyman Theodore B. Gibbs and his sons, Edgar B. and Willard. Theodore Gibbs was a Civil War veteran and held many local offices, including postmaster and sheriff. He was also a member of the Atlantic City Railroad's Board of Directors. The amusement park was a popular destination in the early decades of the twentieth century with a trolley running from the city of Camden to the park's entrance. In the early twentieth century, amusement parks were built at the end of trolley lines to encourage weekend ridership. 1920–1939 In the 1920s, the park had grown to include a nickelodeon movie theater, a "dancing casino", a steam-driven carousel, the Jack Rabbit roller coaster, and a "razzle-dazzle" ride. The Jack Rabbit coaster was considered state-of-the-art when added to the park in 1919 for the cost of $80,000 (equal to $1,485,605 today). On June 22, 1931, a fire almost destroyed the amusement park. According to The New York Times, "a vivid pyrotechnic display and the successive reports of exploding cartridges added to the spectacular aspect of a fire which swept through part of Clementon Park, a South Jersey pleasure resort." The fire had reached the cartridge supply of the shooting gallery, setting off explosions. Firemen from six adjoining towns fought the fire, which was contained to the shooting gallery and a "pretzel ride". The damages were estimated to be $2,000. On September 20, 1936, Philadelphian boxer Al Ettore trained at Clementon Park for the upcoming heavyweight title fight against Joe Louis. Many fans visited the park to see Ettore train, causing a 100-foot (30 m) section of grandstand to collapse under the weight of about 500 spectators. No one was seriously injured. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.