Robison Park — Most celebrated amusement park in Indiana; owned by Ft. W. & Nor. Ind. Trac. Co.; 7 mi. n. of Ft. Wayne. Take Robison Park car at Transfer Corner. Double-track suburban line skirts bank of St. Joseph river. Fare paid on any city line entitles passenger to transfer to park line at Transfer Corner. However, additional fare is collected after car leaves city limits. Special park tickets are purchasable on all city lines; ask conductor. Park is situated on St. Joseph river, contains 240 acres in forest and beautiful landscape gardening. Features: Ivy-covered bell tower and reservoir for park water supply; refreshment and dining pavilion, dancing pavilion, gravel walks leading across rustic bridge to picnic grounds, theatre, bandstands, bowling alleys, dining hall, shoot-the-chutes, pony track, merry-go-round, circle swing, "blue streak," completely equipped children's playground, etc. In another section is the athletic field, with half-mile track, amphitheatre, etc. Picnic grounds provided with permanent tables, benches and conveniences. Throughout the season, Robison park is the scene of many great assemblages. Much attention is given to the children. Conducted on a high plane; no liquor sold. Season, May to September. C. H. Williams, manager.
Robison Park, 1896-1919 (1956) by Roy M. Bates, 1964, Reprinted from Old Fort news, v. 29, no. 2-3, June-Sept. 1956 by permission of the Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society on Archive.org.
Admission was Free! Trolley rides cost 20 cents. Opening day was July 4, 1896 with 35,000 people packing every trolley car going to the park on a 30-40 minute ride into the undeveloped country side north of Fort Wayne. It once stood in what is now the North Pointe Woods subdivision along the St. Joseph River across the river from the Riverbend Golf Course on St. Joe Road. The North Pointe Woods clubhouse has a nice collection of artifacts including pictures from Robison Park. There is a marker at 8202 Riveroak Drive. The Daredevils, a roller coaster, 900 seat playhouse for vaudeville acts, dancing, popular water ride "shoot-the-chute," all drew conventions and group tours from Chicago, Indianapolis and Detroit. "In 1897, he (Louis Heilbroner) brought Edison's new "Projectorscope" to Fort Wayne and began regular movie showings. Huge Independence Day and Labor Day picnics were organized, and on German Day, 10,000 people came for a singing competition." The park died when automobiles became popular and closed in 1919. The Cyclone roller coaster was taken to West Swinney Park the following year where it thrived for another 25 years.
Thomas Newton: The attached map was drawn by local Robison Park Historian Casey Drudge. Unfortunately, much of the park is now housing addition and so off limits to the public. Also deceiving is the layout of the park in relation to the river as a dam was just below the park at the turn of the century, and so the areas that were then water are not necessarily today. For anyone wanting more information on the park, I would suggest picking up a copy of the Old Fort News, Volume 63 at the History Center gift shop. This 32 page publication has many photos and this map, devoted to the history of the park was written by Casey Drudge. Casey used to give guided hiking tours of what was left of the park (some foundations, etc.), but I am unsure if he still does.
Robison Park Is No Place For a Picnic Early In March
A BLANKET OF SNOW COVERS
THE PARK THE PLEASURE GROUND PRESENTS CHANGED APPEAR ANCE THESE DAYS.
WELL WORTH THE TRIP
Fort Wayneites Desiring- a Country Walk Will Find the Park Trip a Delightful One.
Now that the robins are beginning to come north in numbers sufficient to make a good sized chirp, the thoughts of the young people are beginning to turn toward Robison park. Most of them who are thinking of the resort, however, are picturing a beautiful place, like the one they left last fall, but there is no such place now. Robison park is nothing but a desolate waste of snow banked against a few lonesome buildings, drifting across the lagoon and doing its best to cover the roller coaster. Not many Fort Wayne people have had the hardihood to tramp out to the park this winter, but there are .a few who have done so, among them being Frank Hessert, of the News, who took the pictures shown here.
One of the pictures is that of Horseshoe Curve, the danger spot on the Leo road that is to be eliminated this summer. This curve is located about a mile south of the park and was passed by the photographer on his walk. The picture taken from a point near the bottom of the danger point and shows the place where an accident would be most likely to occur. Covered with snow, as the curve is now, it is doubly dangerous. There is a sharp incline rising just back of where the photographer stood to take this picture, and this, combined with the sharp curve, makes it a spot feared by motorists and drivers of horses alike.
On reaching the park the first thing to catch the eye is the old water tower, standing out against the sky line as a sort of a winter guard over the closed park. By wading through the snow a view of the pavilion as shown in the picture can be secured. The snow is banked up against shutters and sifting in through the crevices and the thought of the cold lemonades and ice cream sodas that have been served there only adds to the general chilliness. The ice-covered river looks rather uninviting for a canoe trip and the snow that is drifted across it makes skating an unpleasant pastime.
The circle swing is still on the job, although it is not circling excepting when a chilly blast sweeps across the river and sets the circle in motion, rocking the framework and piling up more snow against the engine house at the base.
HOW THE PARK LOOKS IN THE WINTER TIME 4 2 No: 1-Circle swing, with chute-the-chutes in the background. No. 2-Water tower. No. 3-Grove foot bridge, showing roller coaster and theater. No. 4-Pavilion, from the west, No. 5-Horseshoe curve, from the north
A still better idea of what a desolate place the park really is in the winter time can be gained from the little rustic bridge over the creek that separates the part where the pavilion and the dance hall are located from the grove. Here the roller coaster is the first object to meet the eye. The gaunt framework stands out like some huge skeleton, its bare bones covered with snow and ice, and all of the machinery and the cars carefully housed.
The chute-the-chutes is in even better condition for a slide now than it is in the summer time, for instead of greased rails there is a coating of ice and solidly packed snow on its smooth surface. It would make an elegant toboggan slide, were it longer and were the slope where it meets the ice-covered river more gradual. As it is, a toboggan would be splintered on hitting the ice at such an angle. However, as no one has yet attempted the slide in the winter time, and as no one is likely to try it soon, "we should worry."
In spite of the loneliness and. the feeling that everything at the park is dead in the winter time, there is much that is beautiful to be found in the resort during the winter. Some parts of the park are even more beautiful when covered with snow than they are in summer time, and when Manager Williams finds a way to keep snow on those parts during the summer, he will have an attraction that will keep the park cars more crowded on the average weekday than they have ever been at 2 o'clock on the morning of July 5, when the park line has been tied up for three hours.
It is worth an afternoon of anyone's time just see the park in winter and the fourteen-mile walk will do more good than a gallon of some kinds of medicine. If you feel the need of a change of scenery and a bit of exercise, put on a pair of heavy shoes and walk to Robison park and back. You'll remember it for a long time, long after the stiffness has gone out of your joints and the bruises have disappearel from your heels.
After only 20 years at Robison Park, their now over one-hundred-plus-year-old handcarved masterpiece G.A. Dentzel Menagerie Carrousel was relocated to Spencer Park in Logansport, Indiana and was one of only three still surviving in the world in 2012.
This week Cass County Dentzel Carousel will be the Charity Roadblock on August 25 & 26 at the intersection of Broadway & 6th Streets. Good Luck!
Cass County Dentzel Carousel is a National Historic Landmark.
Everyone loves to catch the Golden Ring and win a free ride! Every ride has many silver rings, but only one gold ring!
The hand carved 43 animal "Gustav Dentzel" Carousel was brought to Logansport in 1919 from Fort Wayne, Indiana, by a private owner. While the history of the Logansport animals are traced to 1902, much evidence exists to date the animals to 1885. It is probable, then, that some of the animal carvings are over 115 years old.
Robison Park. The Main Pavilion was quite a building as you can see. It contained a large ballroom and an enormous German made Welte Orchestrion. Besides being an organ, it also had mechanical drums, cymbals, etc., and cost the then magnificent sum in 1896 of $9,400.00... Harter Postcard Collection ACPL
I finally made the short hike into the woods *almost* to the site of Robison Park. Here are the remnants of the trolley car bridge over Swift Creek and into the site of the former Robison Park.
Did you know that we used to have an amusement park in Fort Wayne? Check out this aerial shot of some of the roller coasters in the bottom half of the photo.
Construction of the 486 mile-long Wabash & Erie Canal also gave rise to the construction of Robison Park. Due to breaks in the canal, evaporation, and other water loss reasons, the waterway at a number of points along its path had to have a controlled source of additional water. Therefore, feeder canals were integrated into the canal design. One of these was here in Fort Wayne, and ran from downtown (about two blocks behind Paula’s where the feeder joined with the main canal) off West Main to six miles north of the city on the St. Joseph River where a lock tender regulated the water sent to the main canal. It was at this river location that a large dam, approximately 230 foot long and 17-foot high, was built across the St. Joe causing it to back up creating a lake and lagoons behind it. The next closest feeder canals to Fort Wayne were to the east, near Antwerp, OH and to the west, near Lagro.
While the main canal (1843-1876) was closed by the time Robison Park was built, the deep backed up river behind the dam with the high bluffs along the river in that area made a natural location for an amusement park. The area the park occupied is the back-half of today’s North Pointe Woods housing addition (off North Clinton), which would have then also made the park directly across the river from today’s Riverbend Golf Course on St. Joe Road. In fact, most of today’s Riverbend Golf Course, due to the dam, was at the time under 10 feet of water.
They began laying the trolley tracks in early 1896 down Spy Run from Superior to Centlivre Brewery and then turning slightly right and adjacent to the old feeder canal down today’s Spy Run Extended and through Johnny Appleseed Park. They then crossed today’s Coliseum Blvd and followed the riverbank opposite Canterbury Green Apartments, behind Concordia Theological Seminary and on to a point just past where the dam stood.
On opening day, July 4, 1896, an estimated 8,000 revelers road trolleys from downtown to the park and back for 20 cents, which included admission to the park and all its amusements.
A book could be written about the comings, goings, events, parties, reunions, weddings, company picnics, entertainers, orators, amusements and other happenings that took place at Robison during its 24-year existence. But we’ll need to close with just listing some of the amusements that were located there: Miniature Railway Rides, a Carrousel (now in Logansport, IN), Bowling Alley, Circle Swing, Balloon ascensions, Dance Hall, Shoot the Chute Water Slide, Photography Studio, 100 Rowboats for rent, Naphtha Powered Launches, a Steamboat, Ice Cream Stand, Roller Coaster (the Blue Streak), Bicycle Race Track, Band Stand, Ferris Wheel, Enclosed Children’s Playground, Souvenir Shop, Wishing Well, Movie Theater, Main Pavilion with Ballroom and German Orchestrion, Baseball Diamond with Bleachers, Restaurant, Zoological Garden, Hall of Mirrors, Shooting Gallery, Pony Track, Picnic Groves and Fireworks.
(Images courtesy Harter Postcard Collection@ACPL)
A special tip of the hat to historian Case Drudge for the liberal use of his research.
Randy Harter is a Fort Wayne historian, author and the architecture/history guide for FortWayneFoodTours.com
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The feeder canal is referenced as The St. Joseph Pathway and Becketts Run Trail follow alongside of it in places. in the blog CANAL ROUTES by Steve NewbauerPosted on October 17, 2022 on Tadpolerider.com.
A January 21, 2024 post on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook has several photos of abutment remnants on Beckett's Run. One comment states: the county GIS maps have historical imagery from as far back as 1938 that show this whole area with the trolley line path and others in Robison park still intact!
Summer is a time when families begin to seek out amusements. Long before people started making the trek to amusement parks in our neighboring states, the citizens of Fort Wayne took advantage of our local amusement park. The Fort Wayne Consolidated Railway Company established Robison Park as a way to increase its revenue by charging fares for the seven mile trip to the park, an extension of their trolley lines serving Fort Wayne. Originally known as Swift’s Park, the park formally opened to the public 123 years ago today, on June 28, 1896. Set in a rural landscape seven miles north of the city along the St. Joseph River, Robison Park featured lagoons for boating, landscaped picnic areas, and walkways for leisurely strolls. The impressive 110’ by 125’ three-story pavilion was the first major attraction at the site, a place to buy refreshments, socialize, dance and gather for scheduled events. Other attractions were added over the years such as Trier’s Dance Hall, amusement rides, a zoo, water slide, theater, bowling alley and a baseball field. In the late 1890s, 25 summer trolleys with open sides (or curtained as needed) were available to transport up to 1,200 people each hour if necessary. It became a popular summer venue for 23 years, closing for the final time at the end of the successful 1919 season. Today we celebrate the still often talked about Robison Park and the summer amusements that it afforded the people of Fort Wayne. #sociallyhistory
The story with many historical photos mentions a 30-page history by Casey Drudge called Robison A Fresh Look published in The History CenterOld Fort News in 2000 that is available for sale.
Ride along with Eric Olson into 21Country as he spotlights the old Robison Park and the Logansport Dentzel Carousel, only one of two of its kind left in the world!
March 19, 2024 post with this The Indiana Album photo in the Bonnie Andrews Family Collection labeled: William and Lela Mason with children, Allen County, Indiana, circa 1907 William Spencer (1874-1952) and Lela (Spaulding) Mason (1882-1945) of Fort Wayne pose behind a cartoon cutout studio prop of a wagon with their children Lela Ruth (1904-1973) and William Allen (1907-1977). The wagon is hitched to a cartoon mule or donkey who is about to kick it with both hind feet. Handwritten on back "W.S. & Lela Mason & children Ruth & Allen" possibly taken at Robison Park on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook.
Construction of the 486 mile-long Wabash & Erie Canal also gave rise to the construction of Robison Park. Due to breaks in the canal, evaporation, and other water loss reasons, the waterway at a number of points along its path had to have a controlled source of additional water. Therefore, feeder canals were integrated into the canal design. One of these was here in Fort Wayne, and ran from downtown (about two blocks behind Paula’s where the feeder joined with the main canal) off West Main to six miles north of the city on the St. Joseph River where a lock tender regulated the water sent to the main canal. It was at this river location that a large dam, approximately 230 foot long and 17-foot high, was built across the St. Joe causing it to back up creating a lake and lagoons behind it. The next closest feeder canals to Fort Wayne were to the east, near Antwerp, OH and to the west, near Lagro.
