Luna Park, Scranton

Posted by on Apr 12, 2016 in | Comments Off on Luna Park, Scranton Luna Park appears to be a magical place in this postcard. In the brief decade it existed from 1906 to 1916 in Scranton, Lackawanna County, it offered entry into another world for the admission price of only 10 cents. Located across a footbridge east of Nay Aug Park along the Roaring Brook, Luna Park was the creation of Pittsburgh entrepreneur Frederick Ingersoll (1876–1927). Ingersoll opened his...
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The Merry-Go-Round Kings

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Merry-Go-Round Kings Murmuring voices and laughter, mingling with the strains of band organ music and the rustling of long white skirts and crisply starched shirts, filled the sum­mer air of 1904 at Philadel­phia’s Woodside Park. A new carousel, one of the finest in America, had just introduced a kaleidoscope of festive color and design to the familiar old amusement grounds. It was, especially, the onset of...
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Currents

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Currents A Glass Act By the opening of the twentieth century, western Pennsylvania, with twenty-nine companies in full production, had emerged as the undisputed glass manufacturing capital of the United States (see “Currents,” Spring 1998, and “Curator’s Choice,” Summer 1998). The manufacture of glass in the region can be traced to the late eighteenth century, when both the...
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Executive Director’s Message

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Message Remember your very first visit to an amusement park and the sight of a merry-go-round? The touch, the reflections, and the magic of the animals, the gyrating, oscillating motion, the sound and rhythm of the calliope, even the smell of wood and paint, left an indelible impression. It’s little wonder that this never-ending race among a menagerie of fanciful beasts captured the excitement and...
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Fairmount Park’s Memorial Hall

Posted by on Nov 24, 2013 in | Comments Off on Fairmount Park’s Memorial Hall To celebrate its thirtieth birthday this year, the Please Touch Museum is giving young Philadelphia residents and visitors a very special gift: the launching of an intensive rehabilitation of Fairmount Park’s opulent Memorial Hall to serve as its new facility. Built as an architectural showpiece for the 1876 Centennial International Exhibition that celebrated the one hundredth anniversary...
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A Backward Glance at Thirty-Five Years Young

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on A Backward Glance at Thirty-Five Years Young Over the past thirty-five years, Pennsylvania Heritage has brought to readers hundreds of stories about the famous and the not-so-famous, of historic preservation struggles won and lost, and interviews with individuals who either shaped history or interpret it. Our thirty-fifth anniversary, which we’re observing with this edition, gives us a moment to pause and reflect on where we’ve been, where...
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