Remembering Alamo Park C.R.’s first amusement park

Spectators were fascinated by the installation of the $5,000 merry-go-round and Ferris wheel at the new 18-acre Alamo Amusement Park on the west side of Cedar Rapids in 1906. The hilltop installation of the Ferris wheel was designed to give riders a spectacular view of the city.

The park officially opened June 11, 1906. An estimated attendance of 2,500 was considered respectable considering all the other celebration events taking place during Cedar Rapids' semicentennial week.

After a short program, visitors wandered the well-lighted grounds, enjoying vaudeville shows in the theater, roller skating or riding the merry-go-rounds and the Ferris wheel. Street cars were full the entire evening, transporting patrons to the park. Not all the rides were quite ready for opening night but were promised to be in operation within a few days.

By July 1, Alamo Park featured a 1,550-foot-long, figure-eight roller coaster that rose 50 feet in the air, in addition to the 100-foot Ferris wheel. The park also had an open-air roller skating rink with maple flooring, a dancing pavilion and free picnic grounds with swings and playgrounds. It was noted for Mentzer's Electric Shoot-the-Chutes, billed as the longest and highest slide in America.

The park opened as a family-friendly place where 'undesirable characters” were refused admission. No alcohol or gambling was allowed.

When the park opened for the 1909 season, those restrictions were lifted under the new management of H. Keymer & Sons, and a beer garden was added. Another change involved the conversion of the theater into a dancing pavilion.

The new management didn't last long. The park was shut down in July and the owners, the Amusement Park Co., filed a lawsuit against the new managers for breach of contract.

A year passed before the Alamo reopened with a weeklong appearance by the American Ladies' Concert Band.

Management changed again in 1911. For a 10-cent admission, attendees were treated to a carnival, shows, band concerts and open air attractions. But that lasted only one season.

In August, the Cedar Rapids Exposition Co. began negotiations to buy the Alamo, as well as the Wolf circus grounds to the east, for a permanent exposition grounds and baseball park.

In mid-September, the officers and directors of the Cedar Rapids Carnival Co. voted to disband, and the lease for the Alamo grounds was turned over to the officers of the Exposition Co.

Five acres of the park was sold to the Cedar Rapids Baseball Association in 1913. The association planned to make $8,000 worth of improvements including a new grandstand, bleachers, club house, ticket office and fence.

The park management continued to book entertainers at the Alamo. A favorite for locals was amateur night.

One amateur night performer was Herman Joseph, a former Gazette paperboy who used his singing talents to sell his papers on Cedar Rapids' street corners. His successful performances at amateur nights inspired him to run away and join the circus. After stints with several minor shows, he asked for a chance to audition for Ringling Bros. His act was a hit, and he joined 'The Greatest Show on Earth.” He returned to his hometown when the show played there in August 1913.

In April 1914, the Alamo Amusement Park Co. asked that property taxes be waived on the property. The City Council refused, saying that, legally, the land must be used for an agricultural purpose for that to happen. After that, the amusement park closed except for baseball games.

The entrance to the park became an impromptu ice rink in winter 1914 when it was thought that some enterprising young boys stopped up the overflow pipes to the Alamo's pond. A February 1915 rain caused significant flooding, then freezing. The resulting foot of ice and snow covered the streetcar tracks, forcing passengers to walk long distances.

The site was the favorite one of the Board of Education for a junior high school. The board cited the property's advantages: 'It is less than a mile from the east end of the First Avenue bridge, less than a mile from the Milwaukee tracks on the west side and one and one-eighth mile from the city limits, according to the scale on the city maps. It is particularly desirable as the district outside the limits is being built up rapidly and judging from the manner in which this part of the city is growing, members of the board have expressed the belief that the park site would be a central point, convenient for the largest number of pupils on the west side.” Final negotiations were completed, and the site was cleared for construction of a junior high school in 1921.

The school got its name, Roosevelt Junior High, at a May 3, 1921, school board meeting, along with McKinley Junior High. Both schools still stand and now are middle schools.

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