Luna Park

Thomas, Web Applications

[Children in the Scenic Railway], circa 1930, v1973.5.1228; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society. [Children in the Scenic Railway], circa 1930, v1973.5.1228; Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection, ARC.202; Brooklyn Historical Society.
In honor of Luna Park opening for the season last weekend, the photo of the week depicts children on the Scenic Railway amusement ride at Luna Park around 1930 in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn. The railway ride known as “Dragon’s Gorge” opened to the public in 1905 taking visitors through a fantasy world of fire-breathing dragons. In 1944, an electrical issue caused a fire to the amusement ride leading to massive destruction of the park, some speculating that this led to the closure of the original Luna Park in 1946.

Under new ownership, the new Luna Park opened in 2010, bringing both new rides and new iterations of old rides back to Coney Island. You can learn more about the history and visiting the new Luna Park here.

This photograph comes from the Brooklyn photograph and illustration collection comprised of approximately 7,000 photographs dating from the early to mid-20th century. The collection provides a comprehensive visual documentation of the borough of Brooklyn with images of neighborhoods, homes, buildings, the waterfront, and infrastructure. To see more photographs from this collection check out this gallery. To see more photographs of Coney Island, check out the Eugene L. Armbruster scrapbook pages on Coney Island here.

Interested in seeing more photos from BHS’s collection? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images. Interested in seeing even more historic Brooklyn images? Visit our Brooklyn Visual Heritage website here. To search BHS’s entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections visit BHS’s Othmer Library Wed-Sat, 1:00-5:00 p.m. library@brooklynhistory.org

 

This blog post reflects the opinions of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of Brooklyn Public Library.

 

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