Disneyland’s Predecessor
Visitors to Sea Lion Park's Flip-Flap Railway, the first looping roller coaster in America. Note the wall, which made Sea Lion Park the first enclosed amusement park.
In the late nineteenth century, in the days before air conditioning, Coney Island in Brooklyn was a summer haven for New Yorkers hoping to escape the heat. Thousands went to swim in the Atlantic Ocean and enjoy the breeze at the beach. Adventure seekers took to several thrilling rides, including America’s first roller coaster, the Switchback Railway. It debuted at Coney Island in 1884.
In 1895, a showman and entrepreneur named Paul Boyton introduced a new way to enjoy such rides. He created the first permanent enclosed amusement park, which he called Sea Lion Park. For a single admission fee, visitors to the Coney Island site could enjoy several attractions:
A water chute ride, which Boyton had introduced to America the previous year in Chicago. In this ride, an eight-person boat slid rapidly down a ramp into an artificial lake.
The Flip-Flap Railway, the first looping roller coaster in America. Boyton bought this ride from inventor Lina Beecher. The extreme g-forces caused many riders to lose consciousness.
Water shows starring the creatures that gave Sea Lion Park its name.
A variety of sideshows, including Topsy, an elephant that Boyton obtained from a circus in 1902.
Sea Lion Park's water chute ride
Sea Lion Park was so successful that it inspired other entrepreneurs. Two years after it opened, a second enclosed amusement park, Steeplechase Park, debuted in Coney Island. The competition, along with a rainy 1902 summer, doomed Sea Lion Park. Boyton sold it at the end of the season, and its new owners opened it the next year as Luna Park. Over the next forty years, most of the original Sea Lion Park attractions were joined by many other rides and diversions.
For a brief history of Coney Island, see the August 2024 newsletter on my tour website, takeawalknewyork.com.
Find more detailed accounts of four Coney Island originals—the roller coaster, hot dogs, frozen custard, and escalators—in my book New York City Firsts: Big Apple Innovations That Changed the Nation and the World.