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The Carousels of North Beach – Long Island, New York

March 10, 2015

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The Carousels of North Beach Amusement Resort Queens, Long Island, New York

“For over thirty-five years, from 1886 to the mid-1920s, the North Beach Amusement zone provided entertainment for millions of local citizens and vacationers. We have identified three late 19th and early 20th century carousel owners and manufacturers who were involved with North Beach: George W. Kremer, E. Joy Morris and Frederick J. Droge. This article begins to piece together the history of the owners and the carousels that were placed at North Beach, Long Island, NY.”

By William Benjamin, Ph. D. and Barbara Williams

History of North Beach, NY

Bowery Bay Beach, Queens, Long Island, New York, became the site of “The Bowery”, an amusement park that opened on June 6, 1886. The park, a venture of piano manufacturer, William Steinway, and beer brewer, George Ehret, was opened, “as sort of a select family beer garden”…”he (Steinway) had in mind a pleasure resort for the workingmen in his piano factory on the Astoria side of the East River, their families and as many of their friends as cared to ferry across from New York and join them in a social glass”. Bowery Bay Beach became enormously popular, attracting patrons and picnickers with grand hotels, restaurants, rides, and all kinds of stage and theatre acts. There were Wild West shows, fireworks displays, wild animals, high wire acts, hot air balloons, movie houses, shooting contests and boat races. Groves of trees and manicured lawns were meticulously maintained. It was a place of open, serene beauty, a welcomed respite from crowded, often suffocating city life. With the area being very well policed, women and children were able to spend a day or weekend at the park unattended.

Transportation to and from North Beach was made easy with ample ferry service and once on land, trolley cars were readily available to shuttle visitors around. Each year, there were building expansions, new additions, remodels and fresh paint at North Beach, keeping the resort in tip-top shape and visually appealing. In 1891, blue laws, restricting the sale of alcohol on Sundays, and a new name, North Beach, were put in place to tame a growing problem – the excessive consumption of alcohol, – and to disassociate it from Manhattan’s “Bowery”, a street of ill-repute. Despite the bucolic-like atmosphere, this type of description from a The New York Times article of a summer day at North Beach was becoming all too common – “Side doors of saloons gave a welcome to all comers. The local police were blind to the rush and gave it no attention. Saloon keepers say the day’s business exceeded that of any day for many months.

At North Beach, beer flowed as freely as the waters in the bay. It took an army of waiters to serve the crowds that gathered in the pavilions there”. In contrast to the alcohol consumption, a different image is conveyed in an advertisement published in the July 3, 1893 issue of The Daily Star which touted North Beach as, “The Most Beautiful and Popular Family Resort” featuring “Boats, Bathing, Fishing, Dance, Toboggan Slides, Switchback Railways, Carousels and Swings”. A similar scene is depicted in an 1896 ad from The New York Times. Following Steinway’s untimely death in 1896 from typhoid fever at age 61, the resort changed hands and it was expanded as is described in an article from The New York Times. “After Steinway died, North Beach fell into the hands of a seaside improvement company with progressive ideas and capital. They put up concert halls, merry-go-rounds, popcorn booths, and similar indispensable adjuncts of a popular seaside resort stretching nearly three miles along the waterfront…The result is that the average crowd at North Beach on Sundays and holidays outstrips that at Rockaway Beach. The Sunday attendance runs anywhere from 110,000 to 125,000”.

Over time, the North Beach Amusement zone expanded to include three primary areas. There was the original Bowery Bay Beach/North Beach section, Gala Park, which opened in 1904, and Stella Park, beginning in 1906. All three parks had carousels.

Gambling became a problem at North Beach in Steinway’s absence when it was thought a looser rein now existed. “Roulette, rouge-et-noir, and every other of the old forms of gambling was boldly exemplified in the open roads, in full view of the police officers, and with no interference from them…every boat which left the Ninety-Ninth Street Ferry, East River, and every trolley car from Brooklyn carried hundreds of men who wanted to risk their week’s wages with the vague hope of making a big winning. There was not a fair game in the whole array, which comprised at least fifteen kinds, and there was not a man who staked his money who got a cent of it back except the ‘cappers’ who lead on the unknowing and the inexperienced ones…So great was the gambling fever that…victims gathered around the tables ten rows deep…and tore one another’s clothes off for the chance to lose their money”. Over time, the North Beach Amusement zone expanded to include three primary, separately managed, seasonal amusement areas. There was the original Bowery Bay Beach/North Beach section, Gala Park, which opened in 1904(9), and Stella Park, beginning in 1906. All three parks had carousels(10). The individual parks and the hotels, concessions, rides, attractions and entertainment within were managed by lessees…