Amusement Park Industry Icon Created Legendary Rides for Knott’s Berry Farm, Opened Castle Park
Wendell “Bud” Hurlbut
1918-2011
By Michael Mello and Mark Eades
Reprinted courtesy of The Orange County Register, (1/6/11), and from The Carousel News & Trader, February, 2011
Bud Hurlbut, who created some of Knott’s Berry Farm‘s centerpiece rides, died Wednesday. He was 93.
Wendell “Bud” Hurlbut worked for years with Walter Knott, the founder of Knott’s Berry Farm. There, Hurlbut designed and built the Calico Mine Ride and the Timber Mountain Log Ride — two attractions that, decades after they were built, remain among the most popular rides in the park.
Hurlbut became known in the industry for his innovation — like the locomotives’ electric motors on the Mine Ride — and attention to detail. Even into his nineties, he could be found in the middle of his workshop, just across La Palma Avenue from Knott’s Berry Farm.
Walter Knott, (in front), and Bud Hurlbut took the log ride for a test “spin” or two (or more) well before John Wayne and his son, Ethan, became the first official guests to brave this thrilling ride.
“Here’s the thing, I always was independent. I didn’t have to answer yes or no to no one,” Hurlbut told the Register’s Mark Eades in an interview last year. “I paid my bills. And I’ve kept the shop going and kept working because this is my golf game. It’s my enjoyment, and that’s why I keep doing it.”
“He loved to create those things. That was his life,” said Marion Knott, Walter Knott’s daughter.
The news spread quickly among Knott’s employees, many of whom have known Hurlbut for years.
Walter Knott, Bud Hurlbut and guest admire the newly installed Liberty Bell in Independence Hall.
“There would not be a Knott’s Berry Farm theme park today if it were not for the talent, determination and creativity of Bud Hurlbut,” said Marty Keithley, general manager of Knott’s Berry Farm. “We will be forever grateful for the attractions that he created. His legacy will live on and generations to come will know of his talent.”
“It is a huge loss,” theme park designer and historian Christopher Merritt said of Hurlbut’s passing. “Bud Hurlbut was a titan of the theme park industry. He influenced me with his designs in such a major way. Bud lived a life worth living – and I will always be grateful to him for his friendship and advice.”
Landmarks all over Southern California display Hurlbut’s work. He crafted the Liberty Bell replica that hangs in Independence Hall at Knott’s Berry Farm. Hurlbut toiled for two weeks to make sure that the bell in Buena Park sported a crack exactly like the original’s, according to the book “Early Amusement Parks of Orange County” by Richard Harris.
The 1902 Dentzel Merry-Go-Round shown here at Knott’s, ca. 1965, was the first ride that Hurlbut brought to Walter Knott. Bud had to convince Walter to let him bring it onto the property. The carousel originally ran at Hershey Park in PA, and then Brady Park in Ohio, before Bud installed it at Knott’s Berry Farm in the 1950s.
Castle Park in Riverside is another Hurlbut project. He established the park in 1976, later selling it.
Hurlbut designed the replica 1880s steam train that now runs at the Santa Ana Zoo. The train originally puffed around Santa’s Village in the San Bernardino Mountains before the zoo bought it in 1999. In the late 1950s, Hurlbut built the Calico Mine Ride on a contract basis for Knott. Hurlbut agreed to build and maintain the ride, paying Knott a portion of the ride’s proceeds.
It took about a year of design and construction, all of which cost about $1.5 million.
As work went on and Hurlbut needed more money, he sold part of his ranch outside of Whittier, his Cadillac and his home to finance construction.
“One day,” Hurlbut recalled in an interview earlier this year, “(Knott) came over and said, ‘Bud, are you sure you know what you’re doing?’ I told him, ‘Yeah, sure.’ I never lied to him again.” He knew what he was doing. The ride was an instant hit when it opened in 1960.
Hurlbut, Marion Knott, said, “lived the true life of an entrepreneur. That’s why he and Dad got along so well.”
Hurlbut’s work made an impression on the industry. Walt Disney frequently came to watch Hurlbut’s work on the Calico Mine Ride. Bud Hurlbut was the first to create “themed” rides, Marion Knott said, ideas that later were imitated elsewhere.
“Both of the rides he did were just as viable today as when he built them. There isn’t a log ride at any other park that compares to the log ride at the Farm.”
Hurlbut was married for 63 years to Lucille Hurlbut who passed away in May of 2004. They had no children.
