Lake Compounce is an amusement park located in Bristol and Southington, Connecticut; the lake itself lies completely in Southington. Opened in 1846, it is the oldest continuously-operating amusement park in the United States. The amusement park covers 332 acres (1.3 km²) of land, and also has a beach and a waterpark which can be used by guests for no extra charge. The park was acquired from Kennywood Entertainment Company by Palace Entertainment, the U.S. subsidiary of Parques Reunidos. In addition to the title for oldest consecutively run amusement park in the United States, it also has 14th oldest wooden roller coaster in the world, Wildcat. Its other, newer wooden roller coaster, Boulder Dash, has won the Golden Ticket Award for the #1 Wooden Coaster in the World for 5 years, and held that record from 2013 to 2016.
Video Lake Compounce
History
The lake's name is derived from Chief John Compound, a Mattatuck/Tunxis Native American. On December 3, 1684, his wife and several tribal members affixed their waxed fingertip marks to a deed that conveyed the "Compound's Lake" to a group of white settlers, including John Norton, who had migrated to central Connecticut from Massachusetts, for a small amount of money and miscellaneous items, including a large brass tea kettle. Local myths purport that Chief Compound drowned while trying to cross the lake in a large brass tea kettle.
Early days
The park's roots trace back to 1846, when a descendant of John Norton, Gad Norton, hired a scientist to perform an experiment using explosives. Though the experiment failed, Norton noted that thousands of people had shown up for the event and was inspired to open a park. He built a path around the lake, set up picnic tables, allowed public swimming and rowing on the lake, built a gazebo for lakeside band concerts and built a few rides. Lake Compounce had officially opened to the public as a picturesque picnic park. The park saw success as a picnic park through the post-Civil War era.
In 1851, Isaac Pierce, a successful "California Gold Rush 49er," joined Norton to established the firm of Pierce and Norton. In 1875 Norton and Pierce petitioned local legislators that their residences be "set off" from the town of Southington to the town of Bristol. A sheep roast was held in appreciation of the legislators and friends who helped secure the granting of that petition. They established the "Crocodile Club" and, in 2010, celebrated the club's 136th reunion. Later, a casino was built on the property. The casino, the first permanent building at the site, was built in 1895 with a restaurant downstairs and a ballroom upstairs. A full-course dinner cost fifty cents. Public transportation also began that year as the Bristol and Plainville Tramway Company; later, the Southington and Compounce Line brought thousands of park-goers to Lake Compounce by trolley.
Around that time, Timothy Murphy of Savin Rock, Connecticut, began to assemble the carousel. Combining the works of four master carvers, Looff, Carmel, Stein and Goldstein, Lake Compounce purchased it for $10,000 and it opened to the public on Memorial Day, 1911. The Lake Compounce Carousel is now included in the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1914 the Green Dragon, Lake Compounce's first electric-powered roller coaster, opened to the public. It was torn down in 1926, and in 1927 was replaced by the Wildcat, a wooden classic designed by Schmeck and built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company.
The 1930s brought more growth. The casino ballroom was expanded to include an enormous dance floor without walls, so that people could dance under the stars. Huge windowed walls and a high arched ceiling were added in 1937. On Easter Sunday, Glenn Gray and the Casa Loma Band opened the Starlight Ballroom to a full house of big-band enthusiasts. From Dorsey to Calloway, Basie to Kenton, James to Goodman, the ballroom was packed for each performance. The all-time attendance record of 5,000 was set in the spring of 1941, when Tommy Dorsey's reorganized band featured a young up and coming vocalist, Frank Sinatra.
In 1933, citing the effects of the Great Depression and the automobile, trolley service was discontinued to the park, which dealt it a difficult blow. These same factors had similar effects on other parks in the region, such as Canobie Lake Park. Lake Compounce purchased a miniature steam railroad designed and built by Connecticut actor William Gillette, the original portrayer of Sherlock Holmes in silent films. The train was inaugurated in 1944, and completely encircled the lake.
New ownership
Through the next several decades, little changed until the late 1960s, when the park's attendance numbers were dropping. Lake Compounce remained under the ownership of the Pierce and Norton Corporation until 1966, when Edward G. Pierce - Isaac's grandson - sold his interests to the Norton family. The Nortons owned and operated the park through 1985 and were able to restore some profitability and raise attendance. No major attractions were added during this time, and the Nortons listed the park for sale in 1984. In 1985, Lake Compounce was sold to the Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company (HERCO), owners of the successful Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania, who briefly renamed the park to "Hershey's Lake Compounce". Factors such as poor marketing, low attendance, and repeated ride outages caused Hershey to close the park after one off-season, a decision that upset local representatives.
In the spring of 1988, Joseph Entertainment Group (JEG) bought the park at a very low price and renamed it "Lake Compounce Festival Park". Renovation was completed and a new 20,000-seat outdoor amphitheater was added by the 1988 season. One of the first notable musical acts to perform at the new venue was the group Milli Vanilli, and their live performance was broadcast on MTV in what became the first public sign they were lip-synching, when a recording of the song "Girl You Know It's True" began to skip. JEG appeared to place its focus on concert promotion and neglected the amusement park. The Wildcat roller coaster and other rides became nonoperational by 1991. In 1991, JEG's financial troubles were exposed when a check the company wrote to Guns N' Roses bounced, and the performance was cancelled. It was later discovered that JEG was nearly $900,000 behind in taxes and had not refunded nearly $300,000 to ticket-holders for 15 cancelled concerts.
Kennywood and Parques Reunidos
Early in 1996, an agreement was signed with Kennywood Entertainment, owners of Pittsburgh's historic Kennywood amusement park, to purchase Lake Compounce. In 2000, the Boulder Dash, which received the 2004 Golden Ticket Award for the #1 rated Wooden roller coaster by "Amusement Today." In late 2007, the Kennywood Entertainment Company was made an offer by Spain-based Parques Reunidos, and was later sold. The park opened for its 2008 season on May 10, opening with designated smoking areas, a refurbished Ghost Hunt ride, a fully re-tracked Boulder Dash, and an expanded Lake Compounce Emporium. This new Emporium has been introduced as the park's main exit.
In 2012, the park had moved Mt. Vernon Rd to allow for the expansion of the water park, which was renamed Crocodile Cove. In 2013, the park added Bayou Bay, a large wave pool across from Riptide Racers which continued the Crocodile Cove expansion. In 2014, the park added a campground off-site called Bear Creak Campground with cabins, tent and RV spaces, and a main lodge.
In 2016, the park added a new roller coaster called "Phobia Phear Coaster," a Sky Rocket 2 model from Premier Rides. Similar to Superman: Ultimate Flight at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and Tempesto at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Phobia features three LSM launches and a heartline roll at 150 feet (46 m) high. General Manager Jerry Brick stated that the coaster was the biggest investment in the park's history.
Maps Lake Compounce
Future
Plans include doubling the size of the Crocodile Cove water park. This has required the moving of nearby Mount Vernon Road to the north to give the park more room for expansion. The word on the road move was expected to cost $6 million while the additions to the water park were expected to cost $15 million. After years of efforts to begin the project, the road work was finally started in April 2011, and the park began adding new water rides for the 2012 season. The new water attractions included a wave pool and racing complex. Over the years, clearing has begun behind the wave pool but nothing has been announced.
Attractions
Water park
Former attractions
References
External links
- Official website
- Haunted Graveyard official website
- Lake Compounce at the Roller Coaster DataBase
Source of article : Wikipedia
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