Friday Flashback: Kiddieland
By Karl Klockars in Miscellaneous on Sep 25, 2009 7:00PM
Much like the Riverview Park of yore, Kiddieland is almost nothing more than memories now. This will be the final weekend for the decades-old amusement park in Melrose Park, and rather than dig back through old newspapers we thought we'd take a look at the place that will very soon be history.
Next weekend will see a closing ceremony on October 4th, and high bidders on the "final ride" auctions going on currently will line up to take their last trips on rides like the Big Dipper, The Log Jammer, The German Carousel and the The Merry-Go-Round. After that, Kiddieland will be committed to the past - but thankfully, plenty of leadtime means that we have a number of digital shrines established. Sites like Kiddieland's own history page and Memories of Eldridge Park have excellent information, and there are plenty of digital representations of the park thanks to flickr users like these. Additionally, after the jump, take a spin through some commercials for the part through the years, and a nice collection of clips from the Chicago History Museum collection.
Vanishing Chicago: Kiddieland's Last Ride from Chicago History Museum on Vimeo.