Oaks Amusement Park
Encyclopedia
Oaks Park is a small amusement park
located 3.5 miles (5.6 km) south of downtown Portland
, Oregon
USA, near the Sellwood Bridge
. The 44 acres (17.8 ha) park includes midway games
, about two dozen rides that operate seasonally, a skating rink
that is open all-year, and picnic grounds.
Park rides and midway games are open weekends during spring and daily during summer. Rides include the following:
rink, open year-round. The rink has had a pipe organ
for most of its history; since 1955 it has been a Wurlitzer
model with four manuals
, moved to the rink from its previous home at Portland's Broadway Theatre, where it had been installed in 1926. All pipework for the organ is mounted on a platform hanging over the skate floor.
The park, conceived as an attraction timed to accompany the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition
, was built by the Oregon Water Power and Railway Company and opened on May 30, 1905, during a period when trolley park
s were often constructed along streetcar lines. It attracted 300,000 visitors during its first season, and continued to attract about that many patrons throughout its first decade of existence.
In the early 1920s, the park was sold to John Cordray, one of its managers. After Cordray died in 1925, Edward Bollinger, Oaks Park's superintendent, bought all but the land from Cordray's widow; Bollinger acquired the land in 1943. The 1948 Vanport flood submerged Oaks Park for 30 days, killing a third of the bluff's oak trees, warping most of the rides, and resulting in damage to the rink that took five months to repair; the next year, Bollinger's son Robert took over after his father's death. The damage prompted the owners to rebuild the rink floor on airtight iron barrels, which would float in the event of another flood; the floats worked as planned during the area's Christmas flood of 1964
and the Willamette Valley Flood of 1996
.
From 1958 until 1974, the park was the home of Southern Pacific 4449
, the only surviving example of Southern Pacific Railroad
's GS-4
class of steam locomotive
s.
Two years after the Jantzen Beach Amusement Park
closed in 1970, the Oregon Journal
reported Oaks Park "may be on the verge of a renaissance"; three years later Sellwood's local newspaper, The Bee reported "30,000 people a month still come during the summer."
In 1985, the park was donated to Oaks Park Association, a not-for-profit corporation created by Robert Bollinger. In 1989, the park and the interior of the roller rink were seen in a long sequence in Breaking In
, a film written by John Sayles
, directed by Bill Forsyth
, and starring Burt Reynolds
. It also appears in the 1999 PBS
special Great Old Amusement Parks
.
The park celebrated 100 years of continuous operation in 2005, making it among the oldest in the US.
Oaks Park's skating rink was featured in the 2008 thriller movie Untraceable
, and again on TNT's Leverage
on the season four episode four "The Van Gogh Job". The park itself was also featured in Free Willy
.
Amusement park
thumb|Cinderella Castle in [[Magic Kingdom]], [[Disney World]]Amusement and theme parks are terms for a group of entertainment attractions and rides and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people...
located 3.5 miles (5.6 km) south of downtown Portland
Downtown Portland
Downtown Portland, the city center of Portland, Oregon, United States, is located on the west bank of the Willamette River. It is in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and is where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found....
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
USA, near the Sellwood Bridge
Sellwood Bridge
The Sellwood Bridge is a truss bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, in the United States. It was Portland's first fixed-span bridge and, being the only river crossing for miles in each direction, is the busiest two-lane bridge in Oregon...
. The 44 acres (17.8 ha) park includes midway games
Midway (fair)
A midway at a fair is the location where amusement rides, entertainment and fast food booths are concentrated....
, about two dozen rides that operate seasonally, a skating rink
Skating rink
A skating rink may refer to:* an ice rink used for ice skating* a roller rink used for roller skating...
that is open all-year, and picnic grounds.
Rides
South End
- Looping Thunder (steel looping roller coaster manufactured in Italy)
- Disk-ODisk-OThe Disk'O is a type of flat ride manufactured by Zamperla of Italy. The ride is a larger version of a Rockin' Tug, also manufactured by Zamperla.-Versions:-Ride:...
(added in 2007, manufactured by Zamperla) - Rock-O-PlaneRock-O-PlaneThe Rock-O-Plane is an amusement park ride designed by Lee Eyerly in 1948 and manufactured by the Eyerly Aircraft Company of Salem, Oregon.It is sometimes nicknamed "the cages". Its shape is similar to that of a Ferris wheel, but with seats that are enclosed and rock and roll as the ride turns. If...
- ScramblerTwist (ride)The Twist, also known as the Twister, Cyclone, Sizzler, Scrambler, Merry Mixer, Jambalaya, or Grasscutter is an amusement ride in which suspended riders spinning in cars experience the illusion that they will crash into other suspended, spinning cars. Riders are seated in small carriages clustered...
(manufactured by Eli Bridge Co.) - The Eruption
- CP Huntington train
East End
- Screamin' Eagle (a KMG Fireball)
- Spider (Eyerly Spider)
- Lewis and Clark Big Adventure
- Big Pink (a giant slide, now has 3 colors: pink, yellow and blue)
- Tilt-A-Whirl (new for 2009)
- Herschell–Spillman Noah's Ark CarouselHerschell–Spillman Noah's Ark CarouselThe Herschell–Spillman Noah's Ark Carousel, located in southeast Portland, Oregon, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is located within the Oaks Amusement Park, a -year-old "trolley park"....
- Rock 'N' Roll (a rock 'n' roll themed Matterhorn, with cars shaped like '57 Chevys, similar to the Alpine Bobs)
- Ferris Wheel (manufactured by Eli Bridge Co.)
- Go-Karts (Drive As Mario Kart In Go-Karts With Can-Am As Single Driver and Sidekick as a 2 person car in a race course)
North End (Acorn Acres)
- Skooters (bumper cars)
- Up Up and Away (manufactured by Zamperla)
- Motorcycles (kiddie motorcycles)
- Toon Cars (kiddie cars)
- Zoom (kiddie coaster manufactured by Miler Coaster)
- Sky Fighters
- Frog Hopper
- Rockin Tug (manufactured by Zamperla)
- Adventure Miniature Golf (new for 2011)
Roller skating rink
The park includes a 100 by 200 ft (30.5 by 61 ) wooden roller skatingRoller skating
Roller skating is the traveling on smooth surfaces with roller skates. It is a form of recreation as well as a sport, and can also be a form of transportation. Skates generally come in two basic varieties: quad roller skates and inline skates or blades, though some have experimented with a...
rink, open year-round. The rink has had a pipe organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
for most of its history; since 1955 it has been a Wurlitzer
Wurlitzer
The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to simply as Wurlitzer, was an American company that produced stringed instruments, woodwinds, brass instruments, theatre organs, band organs, orchestrions, electronic organs, electric pianos and jukeboxes....
model with four manuals
Manual (music)
A manual is a keyboard designed to be played with the hands on a pipe organ, harpsichord, clavichord, electronic organ, or synthesizer. The term "manual" is used with regard to any hand keyboard on these instruments to distinguish it from the pedalboard, which is a keyboard that the organist plays...
, moved to the rink from its previous home at Portland's Broadway Theatre, where it had been installed in 1926. All pipework for the organ is mounted on a platform hanging over the skate floor.
History
Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition
The Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, commonly also known as the Lewis and Clark Exposition, and officially known as the Lewis and Clark Centennial American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair, was a worldwide exposition held in Portland, Oregon, United States in 1905 to celebrate the...
, was built by the Oregon Water Power and Railway Company and opened on May 30, 1905, during a period when trolley park
Trolley park
In the United States, trolley parks, which started in the 19th century, were picnic and recreation areas along or at the ends of streetcar lines in most of the larger cities. These were precursors to amusement parks. These trolley parks were created by the streetcar companies to give people a...
s were often constructed along streetcar lines. It attracted 300,000 visitors during its first season, and continued to attract about that many patrons throughout its first decade of existence.
In the early 1920s, the park was sold to John Cordray, one of its managers. After Cordray died in 1925, Edward Bollinger, Oaks Park's superintendent, bought all but the land from Cordray's widow; Bollinger acquired the land in 1943. The 1948 Vanport flood submerged Oaks Park for 30 days, killing a third of the bluff's oak trees, warping most of the rides, and resulting in damage to the rink that took five months to repair; the next year, Bollinger's son Robert took over after his father's death. The damage prompted the owners to rebuild the rink floor on airtight iron barrels, which would float in the event of another flood; the floats worked as planned during the area's Christmas flood of 1964
Christmas flood of 1964
The Christmas flood of 1964 was a major flood that took place in the Pacific Northwest of the United States between December 18, 1964 and January 7, 1965, spanning the Christmas holiday.Considered a 100-year flood,...
and the Willamette Valley Flood of 1996
Willamette Valley Flood of 1996
The Willamette Valley Flood of 1996 was part of a larger series of floods in the Pacific Northwest of the United States which took place between late January and mid-February, 1996. It was Oregon's largest flood event in terms of fatalities and monetary damage during the 1990s...
.
From 1958 until 1974, the park was the home of Southern Pacific 4449
Southern Pacific 4449
Southern Pacific 4449 is the only surviving example of Southern Pacific Railroad's GS-4 class of steam locomotives. The GS-4 is a streamlined 4-8-4 type steam locomotive...
, the only surviving example of Southern Pacific Railroad
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
's GS-4
Southern Pacific class GS-4
The GS-4 was a streamlined 4-8-4 Northern type steam locomotive that served the Southern Pacific Company from 1941 to 1958. They were built by the Lima Locomotive Works and were numbered 4430 through 4457...
class of steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
s.
Two years after the Jantzen Beach Amusement Park
Jantzen Beach
Jantzen Beach Amusement Park was a popular amusement park from 1928 to 1970 in Portland, Oregon, on Hayden Island in the middle of the Columbia River. "The Coney Island of the West" opened on May 26, 1928 as the largest amusement park in the nation, covering over at the northern tip of...
closed in 1970, the Oregon Journal
Oregon Journal
The Oregon Journal was Portland, Oregon's daily afternoon newspaper from 1902 to 1982. The Journal was founded in Portland by C. S. Jackson, the publisher of Pendleton, Oregon's East Oregonian newspaper, after a group of Portlanders convinced Jackson to help in the reorganization of the Portland...
reported Oaks Park "may be on the verge of a renaissance"; three years later Sellwood's local newspaper, The Bee reported "30,000 people a month still come during the summer."
In 1985, the park was donated to Oaks Park Association, a not-for-profit corporation created by Robert Bollinger. In 1989, the park and the interior of the roller rink were seen in a long sequence in Breaking In
Breaking In
Breaking In is a 1989 American crime comedy film directed by Bill Forsyth, and written by John Sayles. It stars Burt Reynolds, Casey Siemaszko and Lorraine Toussaint. It is a movie about how professional small-time criminals live and practice their trades....
, a film written by John Sayles
John Sayles
John Thomas Sayles is an American independent film director, screenwriter and author.-Early life:Sayles was born in Schenectady, New York, the son of Mary , a teacher, and Donald John Sayles, a school administrator. He was raised Catholic and took to labeling himself "a Catholic atheist"...
, directed by Bill Forsyth
Bill Forsyth
Bill Forsyth is a Scottish film director and writer, noted for his commitment to national film-making.Forsyth first came to attention with a low-budget film, That Sinking Feeling, made with youth theatre actors and featuring a cameo appearance by the Edinburgh gallery owner Richard Demarco...
, and starring Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...
. It also appears in the 1999 PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
special Great Old Amusement Parks
Great Old Amusement Parks
Great Old Amusement Parks is a 1999 PBS television documentary by Rick Sebak of WQED Pittsburgh.*Idlewild and Soak Zone — Ligonier, Pennsylvania*Cedar Point — Sandusky, Ohio*Astroland — New York, New York...
.
The park celebrated 100 years of continuous operation in 2005, making it among the oldest in the US.
Oaks Park's skating rink was featured in the 2008 thriller movie Untraceable
Untraceable
Untraceable is a 2008 American thriller film starring Diane Lane, Colin Hanks, Billy Burke, and Joseph Cross. It was directed by Gregory Hoblit and distributed by Screen Gems...
, and again on TNT's Leverage
Leverage (TV series)
Leverage is an American television drama series on TNT that premiered in December 2008. The series is produced by director/executive producer Dean Devlin's production company Electric Television...
on the season four episode four "The Van Gogh Job". The park itself was also featured in Free Willy
Free Willy
Free Willy is a 1993 family film directed by Simon Wincer, and released by Warner Bros. under its Family Entertainment label. The film stars Jason James Richter as a young boy who befriends an orca whale, named "Willy."...
.
See also
- Springwater CorridorSpringwater CorridorThe Springwater Corridor Trail is a bicycle and pedestrian rail trail in the Portland metropolitan area in Oregon, United States. It follows a former railway line of the same name in its route from Boring, through Gresham, to Portland, where it ends near the Eastbank Esplanade. A large segment...
, the former rail line that served the park, now a rail trailRail trailA rail trail is the conversion of a disused railway easement into a multi-use path, typically for walking, cycling and sometimes horse riding. The characteristics of former tracks—flat, long, frequently running through historical areas—are appealing for various development. The term sometimes also...
External links
- The park's website
- Oaks Amusement Park by Bryan Aalberg, Oregon Historical Quarterly 104.2 (Summer 2003)
- Historical postcards at PdxHistory.com