Gwynn Oak Amusement Park

Privately owned Gwynn Oak Amusement Park was located just outside the northwest corner of Baltimore City, about 1/4 mile off of Liberty Heights Avenue. At the corner of Gwynn Oak and Gwyndale Avenues, it was situated on 64 acres of land currently owned by the Baltimore County Government utilized as open space picnic ground. The Gwynn Falls Creek runs through the former amusement park. The creek supplies the lake which remains still today. In the winter, it is common to see ice skaters on the park's frozen lake, as it was decades past.

In its heyday, the park featured three roller coasters, The Big Dipper, The Little Dipper and The Wild Mouse. It also had a trolley, a carousel and the dance hall know as the "Dixie Ballroom". WFBR, a local AM Baltimore radio station did live broadcasts from the ballroom on weekends. The park closed its gates in 1972 after Hurricane Agnes drenched the Baltimore area with over convert|10|in|mm of rain causing the Gwynn Falls to over flow its banks flooding the park. In 1974 its rides were auctioned off, but the carousel was moved and is still in operation on the Mall in Washington DC.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s Gwynn Oak Park was the subject of picketing for intregration as it remained segregated until August 28th, 1963. In 1955 Baltimore City clergy along with local chapters of the civil rights groups, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) with assistance from the NAACP, demonstrated for integration at Gwynn Oak Park. These protests were held at various times over the years but one huge demonstration occurred at Gwynn Oak Park on July 4, 1963. Demonstrators gathered at Metropolitan Methodist Church in West Baltimore to load buses to Gwynn Oak Park. On that July 4th, racially charged "fireworks" flew as 283 people were arrested and charged with trespassing outside the park. The demonstration remained peaceful as many arrested were clerics from all over the east coast. For Michael Schwerner, a CORE worker, this was his first protest and one of his last. Michael was killed by the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi just one year later. Two members of the Episcopal Church's National Council staff, Bishop Daniel Corrigan and Father Daisuke Kitagawa, Executive Secretary of the Division of Domestic Missions, were also among the group arrested.

In John Water's movie "Hairspray", the "Tilted Acres" sceen is based on Gwynn Oak Amusement Park in 1962.

References

*Time staff. "March on Gwynn Oak Park" Time Magazine. July 13, 1963. New York, New York. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,940281,00.html] (accessed 26 November, 2007)

*Sun Staff. "283 Integrationist, Many Clerics, Arrested At Gwynn Oak Park"." Baltimore Sun. July 5, 1963. Baltimore MD.

*Gibbs, Daniel. ""Unsung Monuments in a Monumental City". . [http://www.btco.net/ghosts/oddsends/amuse/amuseparks.html] . (Accessed 26 November, 2007).

*"Gwynn Oak Park". Roller Coaster Data Base. [http://www.rcdb.com/pd1591.htm] . (Accessed 26 November, 2007)

*Zajac, Mary. "Wild Rides". Style Magazine. July/August 2007. Baltimore MD. [http://www.baltimorestyle.com/index.php/style/features_article/fe_roller_coaster_ride_ja07/] (accessed 26 November, 2007)

*Kane, Gregory. "Taylor Branch On Michael Schwerner, Civil Rights Activist". "Baltimore Sun". January 12, 2005. Baltimore MD. [http://hnn.us/roundup/archives/1/2005/1/#9602]