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Luna Park (also known as Washington Luna Park and Luna Park Washington D.C.) was a trolley park in Alexandria County, Virginia (now Arlington County) that operated between 1906 and 1915. The Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Electric Railway (later the Washington-Virginia Railway) constructed the amusement park for $350,000 in collaboration with the facility's designer and operator, Frederick Ingersoll.

Development

In the late 19th century, the part of Alexandria County, Virginia across from Washington D.C. near Long Bridge was known as Jackson City. The area was originally intended to be an industrial hub, but after the Civil War and anti-gambling crackdowns in New Jersey and Washington, D.C., the area became known as the "Monte Carlo of the East". Jackson City became filled with gambling dens and racetracks. Though the Virginia Assembly banned most forms of gambling in 1892, the laws remained unenforced in Jackson City.^[1]

In 1903, Crandal Mackey won the race for Alexandria County Attorney General on a progressive anti-corruption platform. Taking aim at the gambling resorts, Mackey ordered law enforcement to clear them out. After the police did nothing for several months, Mackey assembled, deputized, and armed thirty residents, who then tore through Jackson City, smashing up the gambling dens they found.^[1]^[2] This and further raids shuttered the gambling industry in the area.

The loss of business, especially to the now-closed St. Asaph Racetrack, prompted the Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Railway to seek a new way to attract customers. To that end, they constructed Luna Park in collaboration with the facility's designer and operator, Frederick Ingersoll.^{[citation needed]} The park consisted of a 40 acres (16 ha) plot situated on an old farm, north of Four Mile Run and west of the Alexandria Canal and adjacent roadway and trolley line. A "Luna Park Special" spur line was built to connect to the park. Water was supplied by a concrete reservoir built near Fort Scott on a hill.^[3] The cost of construction was reported as $350,000.^[4]

Luna Park was one of several amusement parks that Ingersoll operated in 1905 and 1906 (including Indianola Park in Columbus, Ohio, Rocky Glen Park near Moosic, Pennsylvania, and Luna Parks in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Scranton, and Mexico City). Although Ingersoll's amusement park empire was drastically reduced as a result of his declaration of bankruptcy in 1911,^[5] he retained his interest in the Alexandria County park.

Operation and decline

The Washington Luna Park Company was chartered December 29, 1905.^[6] The park opened ____

Exhibits were housed in buildings displaying different architecture styles (Japanese, Moorish, Gothic).^[4] The park featured a figure eight roller coaster, a shoot-the-chutes ride, a ballroom, restaurants, picnic facilities for 3,000 people and an arena that sat 8,000 spectators and accommodated circuses.^[4]^[7]^[8] Billboard magazine described the park in 1908 as having "big dumb acts", though a Luna Park brochure highlighted that visitors would not find low-brow "fat women, tattooed freaks or other distasteful features of the tented shows".^[9]

The park also featured special features rented from Coney Island in New York, such as a diving horse and trained elephants. On the morning of August 20, 1906, four elephants from one such traveling show were found to have escaped. Attempts to round them up were frustrated by the elephants stampeding after being frightened by local dogs. It took several days to round them up. One wandered as far as Baileys Crossroads; another, 20 miles south of Alexandria. Suggested causes of the elephants' stampede included thunder and lightning during a violent storm the previous night, to a deliberate release to garner publicity.^[3]^[9]

On April 15, 1915, a fire destroyed the park's signature roller coaster. According to The Washington Post, "the origin of the fire is thought to have been from sparks from a blaze in the woods adjoining the park" (the nearest fire hydrant was miles away in Alexandria).^[10] The damage was extensive, and the park's precarious finances forced the park to go out of business. The structures in the park were mostly dismantled later in the year. The entrance gates and a few buildings survived for decades afterwards,^[3] and traces of the park were evident as late as 1988.^[7] The Arlington County sewage treatment facility now covers the park's site,^[7] near the present intersection of South Glebe Road and Jefferson Davis Highway (U. S. Route 1).

Notes

^ ^a ^b Cleary.
^ Templeman, 76.
^ ^a ^b ^c Templeman, 164.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Luna Park". Arlington Public Library: A Pictorial History of Arlington - Area H Neighborhoods. Government of Arlington County, Virginia. Archived from the original on April 1, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ Pitz, Marylynne (September 1, 2008). "Luna Park's luminary: Entrepreneur/roller coaster designer deserves his due". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Archived from the original on December 2, 2008. Retrieved July 9, 2015. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ Eggleston, 249.
^ ^a ^b ^c Suydam, 45–47.
^ McClellan, Jim; Raybuck, Shirley (2012). "Great Northern Virginia Elephant Hunt or The Pachyderm Panic of 1906" (PDF). The Northern Virginia Review. 26. Northern Virginia Community College: 87–98. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 18, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2018. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ ^a ^b Kelly.
^ "Luna Park-1915". Arlington Fire Journal. June 24, 2009.

References

Cleary, Callum (October 6, 2017). "Jackson City: Arlington's Monte Carlo". Boundary Stones. WETA. Retrieved September 11, 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
Eggleston, D.Q. (1907). Annual Report of the Secretary of the Commonwealth to the Governor and General Assembly of Virginia for the Year Ending September 30, 1906. Richmond, Virginia.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Pope, Michael Lee (2012). Shotgun Justice: Once Prosecutor’s Crusade Against Crime and Corruption in Alexandria and Arlington. Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press. p. 66.
Rose, C.B. (1976). Luna Park. Arlington County, Virginia: Arlington Historical Society. p. 160. OCLC 2401541. Retrieved February 17, 2018 – via Google Books. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
Suydam, Marty (2016). "From Trolley Park to Sewage Treatment: Luna Park". The Arlington Historical Magazine. 15 (4). The Arlington Historical Society, Inc.: 45–47. ISSN 0066-7684. OCLC 1802280.
Templeman, Eleanor Lee (1959). Arlington Heritage: Vignettes of a Virginia County. LCCN 59010491. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
Kelly, John (April 18, 2010). "The untruncated tale of the great elephant 'escape'". The Washington Post. pp. 1–2. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved October 19, 2017. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
"Parks: Pleasure Resorts: Summer Gardens: District of Columbia: Washington". The Billboard. 20 (31). Cincinnati, Ohio: 45. August 1, 1908. Retrieved February 17, 2018 – via Google Books. Luna Park (plays big dumb acts), Frederick Ingersoll, designer: Chas. J. Goodfellow, mgr.

External links

Luna Park at the Roller Coaster DataBase
"Riding Shoot the Chutes at Luna Park". Arlington Public Library. July 11, 2006. Retrieved April 30, 2018.

38°50′40″N 77°03′20″W / 38.84444°N 77.05556°W / 38.84444; -77.05556

[cleary-1] Cleary.

[templeman-76-2] Templeman, 76.

[templeman-164-3] Templeman, 164.

[arlingtonva.us-4] "Luna Park". Arlington Public Library: A Pictorial History of Arlington - Area H Neighborhoods. Government of Arlington County, Virginia. Archived from the original on April 1, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[5] Pitz, Marylynne (September 1, 2008). "Luna Park's luminary: Entrepreneur/roller coaster designer deserves his due". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Archived from the original on December 2, 2008. Retrieved July 9, 2015. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[6] Eggleston, 249.

[sewage-7] Suydam, 45–47.

[hunt-8] McClellan, Jim; Raybuck, Shirley (2012). "Great Northern Virginia Elephant Hunt or The Pachyderm Panic of 1906" (PDF). The Northern Virginia Review. 26. Northern Virginia Community College: 87–98. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 18, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2018. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[kelley-9] Kelly.

[fire-10] "Luna Park-1915". Arlington Fire Journal. June 24, 2009.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 ==Development==
-In the late 19th century, the part of Alexandria County, Virginia across from Washington D.C. near [[Long Bridge (Potomac River)|Long Bridge]] was known as Jackson City. The area was originally intended to be an industrial hub, but after the Civil War and anti-gambling crackdowns in New Jersey and Washington, D.C., the area became known as the "[[Monte Carlo]] of the East". Jackson City became filled with gambling dens and racetracks. Though the Virginia Assembly banned most forms of gambling in 1892, the laws remained unenforced in Jackson City.<ref name="cleary">Cleary</ref>
+In the late 19th century, the part of Alexandria County, Virginia across from Washington D.C. near [[Long Bridge (Potomac River)|Long Bridge]] was known as Jackson City. The area was originally intended to be an industrial hub, but after the Civil War and anti-gambling crackdowns in New Jersey and Washington, D.C., the area became known as the "[[Monte Carlo]] of the East". Jackson City became filled with gambling dens and racetracks. Though the Virginia Assembly banned most forms of gambling in 1892, the laws remained unenforced in Jackson City.<ref name="cleary">Cleary.</ref>
 In 1903, Crandal Mackey won the race for Alexandria County Attorney General on a progressive anti-corruption platform. Taking aim at the gambling resorts, Mackey ordered law enforcement to clear them out. After the police did nothing for several months, Mackey assembled, deputized, and armed thirty residents, who then tore through Jackson City, smashing up the gambling dens they found.<ref name="cleary"/><ref name="templeman-76">Templeman, 76.</ref> This and further raids shuttered the gambling industry in the area.
-The loss of business, especially to the now-closed [[St. Asaph Racetrack]], prompted the [[Northern Virginia trolleys#Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Electric Railway|Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Railway]] to seek a new way to attract customers. To that end, they constructed Luna Park for $350,000 in collaboration with the facility's designer and operator, [[Frederick Ingersoll]].{{cn}} The park consisted of a {{convert|40|acre}} plot situated on an old farm, north of [[Four Mile Run]] and west of the Alexandria Canal and adjacent roadway and trolley line. A "Luna Park Special" [[spur line]] was built to connect to the park. Water was supplied by a concrete reservoir built near [[Fort Scott (Arlington, Virginia)|Fort Scott]] on a hill.<ref name="templeman-164">Templeman, 164.</ref>
+The loss of business, especially to the now-closed [[St. Asaph Racetrack]], prompted the [[Northern Virginia trolleys#Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Electric Railway|Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Railway]] to seek a new way to attract customers. To that end, they constructed Luna Park in collaboration with the facility's designer and operator, [[Frederick Ingersoll]].{{cn}} The park consisted of a {{convert|40|acre}} plot situated on an old farm, north of [[Four Mile Run]] and west of the Alexandria Canal and adjacent roadway and trolley line. A "Luna Park Special" [[spur line]] was built to connect to the park. Water was supplied by a concrete reservoir built near [[Fort Scott (Arlington, Virginia)|Fort Scott]] on a hill.<ref name="templeman-164">Templeman, 164.</ref> The cost of construction was reported as $350,000.<ref name="arlingtonva.us">{{cite web|url=http://www.arlingtonva.us/departments/Libraries/history/LibrariesHistoryPichistH.aspx|title=Luna Park|work=Arlington Public Library: A Pictorial History of Arlington - Area H Neighborhoods|publisher=Government of [[Arlington County, Virginia]]|dead-url=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100401065506/http://library.arlingtonva.us/departments/libraries/history/librarieshistorypichisth.aspx|archivedate=April 1, 2010}}</ref>
-The cost of construction was reported as $350,000.<ref name="arlingtonva.us">{{cite web|url=http://www.arlingtonva.us/departments/Libraries/history/LibrariesHistoryPichistH.aspx|title=Luna Park|work=Arlington Public Library: A Pictorial History of Arlington - Area H Neighborhoods|publisher=Government of [[Arlington County, Virginia]]|dead-url=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100401065506/http://library.arlingtonva.us/departments/libraries/history/librarieshistorypichisth.aspx|archivedate=April 1, 2010}}</ref>
 Luna Park was one of several amusement parks that Ingersoll operated in 1905 and 1906 (including [[Indianola Park]] in [[Columbus, Ohio]], [[Rocky Glen Park]] near [[Moosic, Pennsylvania]], and [[Luna Park]]s in [[Luna Park, Pittsburgh|Pittsburgh]], [[Luna Park, Cleveland|Cleveland]], [[Luna Park, Scranton|Scranton]], and [[Luna Park, Mexico City|Mexico City]]). Although Ingersoll's amusement park empire was drastically reduced as a result of his declaration of bankruptcy in 1911,<ref>{{cite news|first=Marylynne|last=Pitz|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08245/908516-42.stm|title=Luna Park's luminary: Entrepreneur/roller coaster designer deserves his due|work=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]]|date=September 1, 2008|access-date=July 9, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202201007/http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08245/908516-42.stm|archive-date=December 2, 2008|dead-url=yes|df=mdy-all}}</ref> he retained his interest in the Alexandria County park.
@@ Line 21: / Line 19: @@
 The park also featured special features rented from [[Coney Island]] in New York, such as a diving horse and trained elephants. On the morning of August 20, 1906, four elephants from one such traveling show were found to have escaped. Attempts to round them up were frustrated by the elephants stampeding after being frightened by local dogs. It took several days to round them up. One wandered as far as [[Bailey's Crossroads, Virginia|Baileys Crossroads]]; another, 20 miles south of [[Alexandria, Virginia|Alexandria]]. Suggested causes of the elephants' stampede included thunder and lightning during a violent storm the previous night, to a deliberate release to garner publicity.<ref name="templeman-164"/><ref name="kelley"/>
-On April 15, 1915, a fire destroyed the park's signature roller coaster. According to ''[[The Washington Post]]'', "the origin of the fire is thought to have been from sparks from a blaze in the woods adjoining the park" (the nearest fire hydrant was miles away in Alexandria).<ref name=fire>{{cite web|url=http://arlingtonfirejournal.blogspot.com/2009/06/luna-park-1915.html|title=Luna Park-1915|website=Arlington Fire Journal|date=June 24, 2009}}</ref> The damage was extensive, and the park's precarious finances forced the park to go out of business. The structures in the park were mostly dismantled later in the year. The entrance gates and a few buildings survived for decades afterwards,<ref name="templeman-164"/> and traces of the park were evident as late as 1988.<ref name=sewage/> The Arlington County sewage treatment facility now covers the park's site,<ref name=sewage>{{cite journal|last=Suydam|first=Marty|title=From Trolley Park to Sewage Treatment: Luna Park|journal=The Arlington Historical Magazine|publisher=[[Arlington Historical Society|The Arlington Historical Society, Inc.]]|volume=15|number=4|year=2016|pages=45-47|oclc=1802280|issn=0066-7684}}</ref> near the present intersection of [[South Glebe Road]] and Jefferson Davis Highway ([[U.S. Route 1 in Virginia|U. S. Route 1]]).
+On April 15, 1915, a fire destroyed the park's signature roller coaster. According to ''[[The Washington Post]]'', "the origin of the fire is thought to have been from sparks from a blaze in the woods adjoining the park" (the nearest fire hydrant was miles away in Alexandria).<ref name=fire>{{cite web|url=http://arlingtonfirejournal.blogspot.com/2009/06/luna-park-1915.html|title=Luna Park-1915|website=Arlington Fire Journal|date=June 24, 2009}}</ref> The damage was extensive, and the park's precarious finances forced the park to go out of business. The structures in the park were mostly dismantled later in the year. The entrance gates and a few buildings survived for decades afterwards,<ref name="templeman-164"/> and traces of the park were evident as late as 1988.<ref name=sewage/> The Arlington County sewage treatment facility now covers the park's site,<ref name=sewage>Suydam, 45–47.</ref> near the present intersection of [[South Glebe Road]] and Jefferson Davis Highway ([[U.S. Route 1 in Virginia|U. S. Route 1]]).
-*{{cite book|author=Eggleston, D.Q.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C-8aAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA249&dq=luna+park+virginia&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjssdW0obTdAhWlY98KHZv9A5cQ6AEIOjAD#v=onepage&q=luna%20park&f=false|title=Annual Report of the Secretary of the Commonwealth to the Governor and General Assembly of Virginia for the Year Ending September 30, 1906|publisher=|year=1907|}}
 ==Notes==
@@ Line 28: / Line 25: @@
 ==References==
 *{{cite web|author=Cleary, Callum|date=October 6, 2017|url=https://blogs.weta.org/boundarystones/2017/10/06/jackson-city-arlingtons-monte-carlo|title=Jackson City: Arlington's Monte Carlo|work=Boundary Stones|publisher=[[WETA-TV|WETA]]|accessdate=September 11, 2018|archiveurl=|archivedate=|dead-url=no}}
+*{{cite book|author=Eggleston, D.Q.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C-8aAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA249&dq=luna+park+virginia&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjssdW0obTdAhWlY98KHZv9A5cQ6AEIOjAD#v=onepage&q=luna%20park&f=false|title=Annual Report of the Secretary of the Commonwealth to the Governor and General Assembly of Virginia for the Year Ending September 30, 1906|publisher=|year=1907|location=Richmond, Virginia}}
+*{{cite book|author=Pope, Michael Lee|year=2012|title=Shotgun Justice: Once Prosecutor’s Crusade Against Crime and Corruption in Alexandria and Arlington|publisher=The History Press|location=Charleston, South Carolina|page=66}}
 *{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XycTAAAAYAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=Luna%20Park|title=Luna Park|work=Arlington County, Virginia: a history|first=C.B.|last=Rose|location=[[Arlington County, Virginia]]|publisher=[[Arlington Historical Society]]|year=1976|page=160|oclc=2401541|via=[[Google Books]]|accessdate=February 17, 2018}}
+*{{cite journal|last=Suydam|first=Marty|title=From Trolley Park to Sewage Treatment: Luna Park|journal=The Arlington Historical Magazine|publisher=[[Arlington Historical Society|The Arlington Historical Society, Inc.]]|volume=15|number=4|year=2016|pages=45-47|oclc=1802280|issn=0066-7684}}
 *{{cite book|ref=|last=Templeman|first=Eleanor Lee|year=1959|title=Arlington Heritage: Vignettes of a Virginia County|lccn=59010491|}}
 *{{cite news|last1=Kelly|first1=John|title=The untruncated tale of the great elephant 'escape'|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/17/AR2010041702651.html|accessdate=October 19, 2017|work=[[The Washington Post]]|date=April 18, 2010|pages=1–2|dead-url=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822072848/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/17/AR2010041702651.html|archivedate=August 22, 2016}}
-*{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XKoiAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA101&#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Parks: Pleasure Resorts:  Summer Gardens: District of Columbia: Washington|page=45|work=[[Billboard (magazine)|The Billboard]]|volume=20|number=31|date=August 1, 1908|location=[[Cincinnati]], [[Ohio]]|accessdate=February 17, 2018|via=[[Google Books]]|quote=Luna Park (plays big dumb acts), Frederick Ingersoll, designer: Chas. J. Goodfellow, mgr.}}</ref>
+*{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XKoiAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA101&#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Parks: Pleasure Resorts:  Summer Gardens: District of Columbia: Washington|page=45|work=[[Billboard (magazine)|The Billboard]]|volume=20|number=31|date=August 1, 1908|location=Cincinnati, Ohio|accessdate=February 17, 2018|via=[[Google Books]]|quote=Luna Park (plays big dumb acts), Frederick Ingersoll, designer: Chas. J. Goodfellow, mgr.}}
-*Michael Lee Pope. Shotgun Justice: Once Prosecutor’s Crusade Against Crime and Corruption in Alexandria and Arlington (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2012), 66.
 ==External links==
 *{{RCDB|10211|Luna Park}}