Kiddieland: End of an Institution

By Prescott Carlson in News on May 20, 2009 6:00PM

Riverview. Old Chicago. Kiddie Kingdom. Santa's Village. All bygone Chicago-area amusement parks that exist only as nostalgic memories. And after this year, Kiddieland in Melrose Park will be added to the list. Owners of the historic site that has entertained kids for 80 years have announced that this summer season will be their final one.

The story of the demise of the park started several years ago with a family clash between descendants of the park's founder Arthur Fritz -- some of the family owned the park itself, while others held the land trust for the property the park sits on, and they disagreed about its future. In 2004, the trust owners sued to have Kiddieland evicted, but that effort failed. Now, as the lease for the property is up this year, both sides have decided to end the fight and move on.

Many adults will certainly mourn Kiddieland as another lost part of their youth, like Don in Bensenville who wrote in the Kiddieland guestbook:

Kiddieland has, and always will be one of my favorite places on this planet. I loved it when I was a kid, we used to bring my daughter there almost every weekend when she was growing up! Yep, she was spoiled! Now, she's 23, and I hope someday I'll be able to spoil any grandchildren she may give me the same way I spoiled her. Oh how I look forward to reliving those memories of years gone by! Thanks folks!

Looks like you'll be hauling those tots up to Six Flags, Don! While we are a bit saddened by the situation ourselves, in this day and age of high tech entertainment the quaintness of the rickety old rides of the park -- many of which are over 50 years old -- becomes more and more of a novelty, and we have a feeling this year's closing day is just slightly speeding up the inevitable. [CBS2, S-T]