When anthracite coal was discovered in the eastern Pennsylvania hills toward the end of the 18th century, the efforts to transport the energy source proved a major and evolving undertaking. Coal transportation began with the building of a road, where carts and wagons filled with coal were pulled by mules.
Coincidentally, around the same time as this discovery of coal, a three-mile rail line was constructed near Wakefield, where horse-drawn railcars transported coal. The difference, however, was that Wakefield was in England. It was not until the 1820s that construction began for a rail line in eastern Pennsylvania from Summit Hill to the small town of Mauch Chunk (now known as Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania). By 1827, the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company (LCNC) completed the nine-mile railroad, where railcars were filled with coal and sent down the end of the line via the power of gravity. To get back up the hill, a mule team was used.
An Inventor From Ohio
LaMarcus Adna Thompson, born in 1848, grew up in Ohio, the state where one of the country’s most famous and significant railroads—the Baltimore and Ohio—ran through. By the time he was 3, his family moved to Michigan. Thompson was drawn to engineering and made his first invention—a butter rotary churn for his father—by the age of 9. By 17, he was a master carpenter.
A Path to the Beach and Business
Before Thompson began making his fortune through business and inventions in the Midwest, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux had a vision for southern Brooklyn. In 1866, the two architects presented an idea for a long thoroughfare that would stretch from Prospect Park, an urban park project they both designed, to Coney Island. The architects, inspired by Paris’s Avenue de L’Impératrice (now Avenue Foch), presented an avenue that was 210 feet wide, which included two roads and two large sidewalks lined with elm, gingko, maple, oak, and sycamore trees. The avenue would be called Ocean Parkway and would be completed in 1876, three years after the completion of Prospect Park.
While construction for Ocean Parkway was underway, several other businessmen had their eyes set on Coney Island and the adjacent beaches. The first to strike was Andrew Culver, a railroad tycoon. Aware of the plans for the Ocean Parkway, Culver set about constructing the Prospect Park and Coney Island Railroad, completing it in 1875. The line terminated in Coney Island at the large and elegant Culver-built train station, which was connected to Culver Plaza North. Soon Cable’s Hotel was built, also by Culver, which was later named Prospect Hotel.
The competition along the extensive beachside had just begun. Executives of the New York and Sea Beach Railroad company purchased property west of Coney Island. To compete with Culver, the group needed an equally extravagant structure. The Philadelphia Centennial (celebrating the nation’s centennial birthday) was taking place. Members attended, noted the best-looking building at the fair—the United States Government building—and purchased it. The building was moved to their plot of land.
William A. Engeman was not a railroad tycoon, but had made his fortune during the Civil War selling horses and mules to the Union Army. Upon hearing about the Ocean Parkway plans, he purchased a number of acres in South Brooklyn in what would become Brighton Beach, neighboring directly east of Coney Island. He had started on his investment earlier than Culver and the Sea Beach Railroad executives by building his Oriental Hotel in 1870, followed by Coney Island’s first pier. After Culver’s and Sea Beach Railroad’s additions, Engeman hoped to make Brighton Beach more alluring to visitors, but money was short.
As luck would have it, railroad investors approached him about building a line that would end at his hotel—his future new hotel. Engeman agreed, and the $1.5 million that was already raised allowed him to build the stunning Brighton Beach Hotel, as well as make plans for his massive bathing pavilion and horse racetrack. The railroad investors formed the Brooklyn, Flatbush, and Coney Island Railroad, and the railroad was completed just before July 4, 1878.
The Inventor Comes to Coney Island
Hotels, restaurants, various forms of entertainment, a steam-powered carousel with hand-carved animals, a 300-foot tall viewing tower, and the beach awaited the masses, and with the quick transit of the now multiple rail lines, the masses came. Coney Island, Brighton Beach, and Manhattan Beach remained in stiff competition for decades. As the 1870s gave way to the 1880s, it was LaMarcus Thompson, the hardworking inventor, who would help separate Coney Island from the rest.While the railroad tycoons, executives, and wealthy entrepreneurs were working to one up each other’s most recent developments, Thompson had spent time on the Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway. The Pennsylvania-based rail line that once transported coal down the steep climb was now a tourist attraction. The railroad swept through the beautiful scenery of eastern Pennsylvania, and soon people began calling the area “The Switzerland of America.”
Thompson decided to bring the switchback to what was becoming the nation’s biggest attraction: Coney Island. His switchback, however, would be much smaller. After spending approximately $2,000 to build a 600-foot long ride, it was installed at Coney Island. The “Switchback Railway” ride was not steam powered, but rather it was designed similarly to how the Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway was originally. The ride began with a steep drop and once gravity had taken the cars to one end at about six miles per hour, it was manually pulled up the opposite steep climb, and then released to return, or switchback, to its starting position. It was during this week in history, on June 16, 1884, that America witnessed its first roller coaster.
Thompson decided to create more than just a ride, but a visual experience. Thus began “The L.A. Thompson Scenic Railway,” where patrons rode through various elaborately painted and designed sceneries. One scenic railway called the Dragon’s Gorge was described as “an enclosed roller coaster, a scenic railroad that brought the passenger on a fantastic trip from the bottom of the sea, through a waterfall, to the North Pole, Africa, the Grand Canyon, and even into Hades, the kingdom of death, over the river Styx. Two dragons framed the entrance, their eyes glowing from globes of green electric light.”
The future of roller coasters, outdoor entertainment, and Coney Island would never be the same.
