- Fairyland Park
Infobox Amusement park
name = Fairyland Park
caption =
location = Kansas City, Missouri
opening_date = 1923
closing_date = 1977
previous_names =
season =
area =
rides =
coasters = 3 (at peak)
water_rides =
owner = The Brancato family (1944-1977)
slogan =
homepage =Fairyland Park was an amusement park, located at 7501 Prospect Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri. The park operated from 1923 to 1977, at which time it was closed due to lack of attendance to the park and storm damage in late 1977.
The park was bought by the Brancato family in 1944. The park was segregated until 1964, when blacks were first allowed to attend the park. Admission cost to the park was kept low (25 cents by 1971). [http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/1996/08/19/story1.html] A storm in late 1977, which by some accounts was 'a wind storm', and by others 'a tornado', caused extensive damage to the park. This, combined with the nearby park
Worlds of Fun causing decreased attendance, led to the closure of the park.The park had three notable roller coasters during its existence. The first, Skyrocket, was a sit-down wood roller coaster built in 1923, but destroyed in a windstorm in 1966. The second,
Wildcat , ran at the park beginning in 1967. After the park's closure, it remained standing until 1990, when it was moved toFrontier City , still operating today. The last was a steel coaster built in approximately 1949, whose fate is not known.After the park's closure
The land comprising the park, as of 2008, is still identified as 'Fairyland Park' in Google Maps. The original plot was bordered by Prospect Avenue to the west, 75th Street to the north, 77th Street to the south, and Indiana Avenue to the east. 7.5 of the 80 acres of Fairyland Park have been purchased by the city of Kansas City, to build a new police station. [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=KC&p_theme=kc&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=119CADE6D9B09960&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM]
The land the park stood on was eventually bisected by Bruce R. Watkins Drive (
U.S. Route 71 ) during the 1990s.
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