CeMar Acres Amusement Park

It's hard to imagine the squeals and laughter of children, the calliope-like music of a carousel and the roar of car engines once filled what is now First City Square at 5001 First Ave. SE in Cedar Rapids. From the 1940s through the 1960s, that site was a family destination known as CeMar Acres, an amusement park with rides and games, a race car track and a roller rink.

The Rink

After several years of setting up a traveling skating rink in small towns in Eastern Iowa and Illinois, Don and Clista McElhinney, with their two small children, decided to settle down in Cedar Rapids. They bought 18 acres on First Avenue in 1944 and converted the Cedar Park Ballroom located there into a roller rink.

The Track

Two years later, in 1946, they opened a racetrack and ran midget and stock car races. In 1952, Don rebuilt the track and added new bleachers. Admission was $1.25 to "one of the biggest tracks in the country," said Clista. Don introduced night midget racing in 1947 after adding 30 light poles with two fixtures each for illumination. The track closed in 1955.

"The biggest reason was the drivers would sit and argue all night long among themselves. We got tired of all the fuss. And the crowds were down a little. But it was one of the best tracks in the whole country. People came from all over to race," Clista said.

The Rides

The summer of 1952 saw the opening of the amusement park with rides for adults as well as kids, including a merry-go-round, tiltawhirl, Ferris wheel and a half-dozen kiddie rides. Some of the rides were available by April 27, and all were up and running within two weeks. The McElhinneys' big ranch house sat in the middle of the park, which was open every evening and weekend afternoons.

Milwaukee Road railroad officials and Cedar Rapids Mayor Milo Sedlacek were on hand for the inaugural run of the miniature train, the Hiawatha, on May 27, 1954. It was a scale model of the Midwest Milwaukee Hiawatha and it was billed as the longest miniature train ride in Iowa, carrying 36 passengers over 1,800 feet of track. The train had lights front and rear, and like the big train, they oscillated. The horn, whistle and bell were made to sound as authentic as possible and the train was equipped with a speedometer and air brakes. It was powered by a gasoline engine.

Don bought a 44-year-old carousel in 1957. It had played the West Liberty fair for 26 years, as well as Vinton's Sweet Corn Days and Lisbon's Sauerkraut Day, and was a veteran of many area county fairs before it took up residence at CeMar. Built in 1913 by the C.W. Parker Amusement Co. of Leavenworth, Kan., it had been in Cedar Rapids once before in 1925 when Frontier Park (later Hawkeye Downs) opened.

The wooden horses were all handmade, with glass eyes and genuine horsehair tails. Each had tiny metal horseshoes and the reins were made of leather. The ride consisted of 28 horses, a pair of rabbits, one chariot and one whirling love seat.

Music was provided by an old air-operated roller organ. It was built by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Co. of New York and had 18 whistles, two drums and other sound effects that made it sound more like a calliope than an organ. A two-cylinder Cushing gasoline engine powered the carousel and the organ.

Don's fascination with the instrument led to his love for "music machines" and he became a lifelong collector of player pianos, hurdy gurdies and calliopes. A Ferris wheel and a chair ride came with the carousel purchase.

In May 1958, a large, portable steel roller coaster was added to the park rides. For three days park attendees got to ride the coaster for free with a coupon printed in The Gazette. The coaster was one-of-a-kind, built specially for CeMar.

The park became a preferred site for reunions and company-sponsored gatherings and was even the site for a fundraiser by the Women's Committee of the Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestra in May 1962.

Running the park was a family affair for the McElhinneys, with Clista selling tickets, daughter Sandra working concessions and son Don driving the train.

After nearly a quarter century of daily supervision of the park, the McElhinneys decided to close it in 1968. They continued to live in their home at the site until 1983 when, following Don's death, Clista sold the property to Jack's Discount Inc. Clista died in 1998.

Clista saved an angel from the top of the roller organ as a memento when the park closed. The carousel eventually found its way to the C.W. Parker Carousel Museum in Leavenworth, Kan. It is 100 years old this year.

Note: CeMar Amusement Park was not the first entertainment venue on the First Avenue site. It was preceded from about 1929 to 1935 by Cedar Park, which had an open-air wrestling/fight ring, an open space for midways that came through town and the Cedar Park Ballroom.