Gwynn Oak Park

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Sign at Entrance to Gwynn Oak Amusement Park

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Left to right: Unknown rider with Cathy Schneider Roland and Terri Schneider Gibadlo (of Southwest Baltimore) on The Whip ride at Gwynn Oak Amusement Park

Gwynn Oak Park is a park that was the site of a privately owned amusement park, located in the town of Gwynn Oak, just outside the northwest corner of Baltimore, Maryland. The 64 acres (260,000 m²) park is at the corner of Gwynn Oak and Gwyndale Avenues, about a quarter mile off of Liberty Heights Avenue. The amusement park, which existed from 1893 until 1973, was the site of protests against racial segregation due to its whites-only admissions policy.

History

In its heyday, the amusement park featured three roller coasters: The Big Dipper, The Little Dipper and The Wild Mouse. The park also featured common amusement rides such as the Ferris Wheel and The Whip (see photograph at right). It also had a trolley, a carousel, and the dance hall known as the "Dixie Ballroom". WFBR, a Baltimore AM radio station did live broadcasts from the ballroom on weekends.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s Gwynn Oak Park was the subject of picketing for integration as it remained segregated until August 28, 1963 when Sharon Langley, accompanied by her father Charles Langley, became the first African American child to ride the park's merry-go-round. 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 initially gathered at Metropolitan Methodist Church in West Baltimore before boarding buses to the Park. Over the course of the protest, 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. 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.

The park closed in 1973 after suffering severe damage from flooding when Hurricane Agnes caused the Gwynns Falls to overflow. In 1974 its rides were auctioned off. The carousel was moved and is still in operation on the National Mall in Washington DC. The land is currently owned by the Baltimore County Government and utilized as open space picnic ground. The Gwynn Falls Creek runs through the former amusement park and supplies a lake which is also still present today and still commonly used by ice skaters when it freezes in the winter.

In popular culture

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