Cascade Park

By Anita DeVivo and Lawrence County Historical Society

Since its opening in 1897, Cascade Park has welcomed thousands of visitors to its picnic grove, summer cottages, mineral springs, dance pavilion, swimming pool, baseball field, zoo, boat rides, outdoor theater, fireworks, and numerous other amusements. The park is an unusually beautiful natural setting with Big Run Falls, Cat Rocks, a gorge, rolling hills, shady walkways, and even a ginkgo tree or two. In the 1890s, when it was called a trolley park, crowds of visitors arrived by streetcar. Eventually automobiles took over, and the roller coaster was dismantled to make space for a parking lot. Today automobiles spill out of the parking lot once a year when more than 1,000 vintage cars travel to the Back to the 50's Weekend, now in its 25th year. This and other family-oriented events continue the tradition of good times in Cascade Park.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Sep 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781439623848

Anita DeVivo

Anita DeVivo, a resident of New Castle, grew up in Mahoningtown. An editor by profession, she has published books, journals, and the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. She is a member of the Lawrence County Historical Society and the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania.

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Zumpella.

INTRODUCTION

Ask local people to name their favorite memory of Cascade Park, and most of them will say French fries with vinegar. Not the gorge, not the lake, not the merry-go-round, but French fries with vinegar. That might surprise the people who operated Cascade Park, the owners, concessionaires, and grounds people. They worked hard to keep the rides and other attractions appealing. Who could have guessed that tastes would change so radically over the years. The rides were an exciting novelty when Cascade Park was new. Today they are just another piece of nostalgia.

At this writing, Cascade Park in New Castle, Pennsylvania, is 113 years old. It has had three owners. First was Col. Levi C. Brinton, who in 1891 saw the potential of 70 acres or so of natural beauty on the south edge of New Castle. He paid $5,000 to create Brinton Park, a modest amusement park with a carousel and a dance platform.

In 1897, Arthur Kennedy and Richard Quay bought Brinton Park for $15,000 and shortly thereafter sold it to the New Castle Traction Company, which they owned, for $46,000. The Traction Company had big plans. First, they built a trolley line to get people to the park. Then they installed rides and other attractions: a roller coaster, a carousel, a theater, a lake, a dance pavilion, a ball field, picnic grounds, and a zoo. The park was magnetic—crowds poured in by trolley, train, and automobile.

By the 1930s, the novelty of the park was not enough to keep the crowds coming. People could go places by car now, and they could find entertainment elsewhere. And of course, the Depression changed the entertainment they could afford. The New Castle Traction Company had also undergone changes. The trolley company was now part of what had become the Pennsylvania Power Company.

The power company was not in the amusement park business. In the early 1930s, Penn Power sold Cascade Park to the City of New Castle for $1. Matters were now in the hands of Mayor Charles B. Mayne.

Over the early years of city ownership, the park stopped trying to attract tourists as the traction company had. Instead, it promoted community support. One of the first events, even before the deed was signed, was a community day. According to the New Castle News, the mayor issued a proclamation declaring July 26, 1933, a legal half-holiday and urged all businesses to close at noon so that everybody could participate. The News also announced in a smaller item that a community picnic is expected to attract thousands of persons on July 26; and on August 7 there will be a big crowd of colored people, as that date has been designated as ‘Colored Day.’

With the city in charge, much of the activity of the park remained unchanged. Churches, clubs, companies, families, labor unions, and other groups continued to hold their picnics there. Women were still meeting in kensingtons, small social groups, often enjoying tureen dinners.

In the 1940s, buses replaced streetcars. Families’ needs were changing with the demands of wartime. The park now had a kiddies’ day, Mondays, when rides were half price. The infrastructure of the park was beginning to show age, the swimming pool filters needed attention, the lake dam had broken, and the lake ran dry. New attractions, such as Swing Lobby in the summer, were introduced.

And then came Vesco. In the 1950s, the park got new energy. Paul Vesco formed the Cascade Amusement Company. He introduced new attractions and installed new rides, particularly a new roller coaster. With the postwar boom and the baby boomers, a new generation of young people fell in love with the park.

The French fries made their appearance. So did lemon ice and meatball sandwiches and sausage sandwiches. The park was in its second heyday; it was a destination again. But a drama was playing out down at the lake. Silt had taken over, and community leader Jack Gerson spearheaded efforts to save the lake. By 1958, the lake was restored, but the efforts were in vain. First, more silt and a broken spillway slowly began to drain the lake. Then the dam broke, destroying the lake completely. The pleasures of fishing and boating disappeared with the water.

The city’s fortunes were not looking better than the fortunes of the lake. It seemed that no sooner was one area fixed, then another needed repairs. Although a new swimming pool was installed in 1979, the dance pavilion had begun to deteriorate. And when the local square dance group stepped in and raised funds for restoring the dance pavilion, a tree fell over the roller coaster’s tracks and ruined them. Then vandals discovered the park and made off with carousel horses and the restaurant burned down.

Through all of this, the park retained its beauty. In the 1990s, the Lawrence County Garden Club restored the flowers and other plantings. A Cascade Park Development Commission had the old blacktop removed from the midway. The Rotary Club restored the carousel building.

In 1997, Cascade Park celebrated its 100th birthday. Ceremonies took place accompanied by band concerts, fireworks, plays, and picnics. By that time, most of the amusements and rides had disappeared. In 2000, the swimming pool closed. And yet, through all of that, the city was able to maintain the grounds. Picnics were still held in the grove. Kids could still use the playground. Square dancing, classic cars cruises, and ethnic days could still take place at the park. And let us not forget Old Timers Day, almost as old as the park itself.

In 2007, the 100th Old Timers Day took place.