Freedomland U.S.A. - Concept and Construction

Concept and Construction

In 1956, the 36-year-old Wood began planning and building three of his own amusement parks across the country. In 1958, Wood opened Magic Mountain near Denver (closed in 1960 but revitalized in Southern California in 1971), Pleasure Island in Wakefield, Massachusetts, in 1959 (closed in 1969), and finally Freedomland in 1960.

Wood's partner was Milton T. ("Ted") Raynor, a television sports producer and attorney, who served as Freedomland's president.

The park's original concept was history-based and the layout was arranged in the shape of a large map of the contiguous United States with guests entering at the approximate location of Washington, D.C. Baychester Avenue at the park's western edge (roughly) represented the border with Canada. Freedomland was divided into different themed areas based on the history of the United States, each with its own attractions, shops, and restaurants. This made Freedomland a true theme park with one real theme.

The research and design team consisted of 200 top artists and architects, including 19 Academy Award nominees. Original music for the park was written by Jule Styne, composer of many Broadway musicals, including Gypsy and Funny Girl.

Groundbreaking ceremonies for Freedomland took place on August 26, 1959. Disaster struck on March 24, 1960, when six unfinished buildings were demolished by fire and had to be razed.

Freedomland was built on the site of a former municipal landfill. Although the property was spread out over 205 acres (0.83 km2), the actual amusement park itself was just 85 acres (340,000 m2) - larger than Disneyland's 65 acres (260,000 m2). The park could accommodate 32,000 visitors at one time (90,000 during the course of a day) and boasted 8 miles (13 km) of navigable waterways and lakes, 10,000 newly planted trees, 18 restaurants and snack bars, and parking for 72,000 cars. It cost $65 million to build.

The area was a swampy one connecting the Hutchinson River and the drainage into Westchester Creek, and was not entirely filled. This led to a profusion of mosquitoes during much of the season. The swampy bottom would later complicate the construction of the Co-op City housing complex on the site. The construction of Freedomland and subsequent construction of Coop City have contributed to large areas of salt marsh degradation. '

Freedomland was built at a time when the traditional New York City amusement area of Coney Island was in a state of continuing decline. Unlike Coney Island, Freedomland was highly accessible by automobile; however, it was difficult to access by the heavily used New York City Subway system, requiring a connecting bus ride after taking an isolated subway line to the last stop (a problem which continued into the Co-op City era, resulting in express bus service from Manhattan to Co-op City). Coney Island, by contrast, was (and is) directly served by four separate subway lines. Coney's last integrated amusement park, Steeplechase Park, closed in 1964, the same year as Freedomland.