Fans still remember vanished amusement park

You had to be there. And if you were there, you know there has never been another place like it.

Riverview.

The amusement park, located near Belmont and Western in Chicago, so captured the hearts and imaginations of its patrons that even today, 40 years after its closing, people are almost moved to tears by its memory.

"It's very difficult to explain because Riverview was a part of everyone's life at that time. Everyone went there. Families, teens, young kids could go there by themselves," said Ed Fruh, a Tinley Park resident who's built models of 21 of the rides that were part of the treasured amusement park.

Fruh remembers walking from his home at 73rd and Morgan to the street car, which he'd ride to the park.

The Bobs, he said, was the most popular ride and operators used to invite patrons to take a second ride for a discount.

"I stayed on the Bobs 13 times in a row once," Fruh said.

Fruh's models, which include the Bobs, the Pair-o-Chutes and the Ghost train, are currently on display at Chicago's Harold Washington Library on South State Street.

Glenn Humphreys, special collections librarian, said the models, which help make up the library's Fun For All exhibit, will be on display through September 2008.

"Riverview had a pull like no other park," Humphreys said. "It just captured everybody's imagination."

The exhibition took friends Mary Rake and Joyce Knolmayer by surprise. The two women were filling time between events at a downtown Red Hats Convention when they chanced upon the Riverview models.

"Oh, the Bobs," said Rake, peering through the display case at Fruh's scale model of the roller coaster. "I was always so afraid of that ride. It went so fast and dipped and swerved. It was both exciting and scary."

The Orland Hills resident said Riverview was so special because there wasn't anything like it at the time. "Seeing these models makes me miss it."

Knolmayer, of Orland Park, recalled the picnics.

"That's why we started going there. We'd have big picnics. They used to have dances, too. You could bring the whole family."

At the turn of the last century, urban amusement parks began springing up around the country and across Europe.

In Chicago, George Schmidt had convinced his father to lease six acres of land fronting Western Avenue to two East Coast investors for $7,600 for 10 years.

Riverview Sharpshooters Park opened on July 3, 1904. Men would come and practice their shooting skills. Eventually, a carousel, built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Co., was added to give the women and children something to do.

Over the years, the Schmidt family, influenced by trips to Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens and New York's Luna Park, began adding to the attractions roster. The park grew from 22 acres and three rides to 140 acres and more than 100 attractions.

Forty years after its unexpected closing, Riverview stays at the forefront of people's minds because of the way it made them feel, said Libby Mahoney, chief curator of the Chicago History Museum, where one of the horses from the carousel is now on display.

"It was exciting and a little bit dangerous. It became a social center for the city," Mahoney said. "Once you entered the gates, it was like entering a fantasy."