Saturday, February 09, 2013

Mystery Park, Somewheresville USA

Today I am sharing some photos of a modest little amusement park that I can't identify. The pictures are undated too, but are almost certainly from the 1960's.

Across a pond you can see Moby Dick; it looks like he's beached himself for a dental exam. Big red barns, crooked houses, giraffes... what can this place be?


Parrots. Why did it have to be parrots. Cub Scouts and other young boys apparently love their birdy antics.


A little train ride... I love little trains! I hoped that the plate on the back would give me some sort of clue, but it was illegible.


And here's the depot... the "Hoosier Train Depot". Is that just a cute name, or was this place really in Indiana? And what's with the giraffe?


Petting zoos are great because they have those little snack dispensers. But the dumb goats always try to steal my snacks.


Last one... giant flowers (lamps?), a pagoda, a Dutch windmill; I'm trying like hell to figure out the theme.


Well, there you have it, sleuths! There are a lot of knowledgeable amusement park enthusiasts out there, not to mention just plain smart people. I am confident that somebody out there will solve this mystery!

6 comments:

K. Martinez said...

It's the George Washington Park Children's Zoo (Indianpolis Zoo).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shushmuckle/6737636571/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shushmuckle/496527725/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shushmuckle/3359967182/

Nancy said...

Such a great little place! Reminds me a little of our own Children's Zoo here in Pittsburgh when I was growing up. Sadly they have taken out all of the "cute" displays and buildings, and now it just looks like any old zoo but with little animals :(

I am enjoying the lighting, particularly the sunflowers near the barn, and the tulips near the pagoda. Must be something with that sunshine thing I have. :)

Great set today, thanks for a smile this Saturday morn!! Thanks to K as well for providing the links. It is so nice when you see that some of the good stuff is still around.

Chuck said...

Based on the placement and design of the Wolf and Bear badges on the uniform of the Cub Scout shading his eyes in the second photo, this photo was most likely taken in or before 1967.

When the Lion award was discontinued in '67, the Wolf and Bear badges were moved to a side-by-side configuration on the pocket until the patches were redesigned in 1972.

K. Martinez said...

Here's a link on the history of the Indianapolis Zoo.

http://www.indyzoo.com/SitePages/AboutTheZoo/History.aspx

Apparently the old children's zoo closed in 1987 and the new zoo opened in 1988 on another site closer to downtown, so this doesn't exist anymore.

Major Pepperidge said...

K. Martinez, you did it! And at 3:07 AM too. Amazing, thank you for soling the mystery! So it IS in Indiana, very fun.

Nancy, I think there must have been a lot of similar little parks around the country - I think I've seen variations on that whale on a number of postcards.

Chuck, I'm not even sure what Wolf and Bear badges are, but thank you for helping to nail down the date a little better!

K. Martinez, more info, cool! Sad that this is gone, even if they built a new one... old places have a certain aura that I love.

Nancy said...

Our whale was blue and I remember you could walk into the mouth and it was padded to be soft like a real tongue!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/c-1960s-PITTSBURGH-PA-CHILDRENS-ZOO-POSTCARD-/200689301114