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Poster from Buckroe Beach Amusement Park, which was the original home of the carousel. Courtesy of the Hampton History Museum.


by the late 1700s. By the early nineteenth century, Americans were building primi- tive carousels. As immigration to America increased, skilled craftsman familiar with building carousels in their home countries practiced their trade in America. By the 1880s, their expertise and the adaptation of steam engines to turn the carousel ushered in the rapid growth of carousels in America. It was the Industrial Age. People had more money, and trolleys made it possible to get easily to places of amusement. It was the Golden Age of the Carousel in America and joy- ously ran from 1905 to 1925. The influence of immigrant


The carousel when it was at Buckroe Beach Amusement Park. Courtesy of Hampton History Museum


carousel makers had a dramatic and incredibly positive effect on the quality and the art of American carousels. There were three distinct styles of carou- sels. Each style had distinctive characteristics that made them easily recognized by carousel aficionados. The styles were County Fair, Coney Island and Philadelphia. All of them are equally ornate and beauti- ful. Fortunately, there is an outstanding example of a Philadelphia-style carousel alive and well and running in Hampton, Virginia. It is officially registered as PTC #50. The PTC stands for Philadelphia Toboggan Com- pany. More commonly, it is


became more ornate with the addition of more realistic hand-carved horses and chariots suspended by chains from arms radiating from a center pole. The wooden horses would be rotated by servants or real horses, as the knights attempted to spear gold rings. These much tamer games replaced the more serious and often deadly tournaments. The carousel eventually evolved into an amusement for everyday people and was popular all through Europe


The House & Home Magazine was a great suc-


known as the Hampton Carousel. The National Register of Historic Places lists it as the Buckroe Beach Carousel. It was originally commissioned by the Newport News and Hampton Railway Gas and Electric Company to be built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC) in 1919. The carousel was completed and began operating in May 1920 as an attrac- tion at the Buckroe Beach Amusement Park in Hampton. Trains brought people from Richmond and other cities to the park to enjoy family fun at the beach. The carousel cess from the start, with 32 jumping horses,


16 standing horses, and two ornate chariots. Even before seeing the carousel, one could hear the melodious sounds of its great player organ. There is a story, according to S. Wallace Stieffen, whose fam- ily owned the park between 1944 and 1986, that the original carousel band organ was so loud it had to be replaced with a Bruder carousel band organ from Waldrich, Germany. There were cardboard music books that had to be replaced manually.


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