As a child, I remember the excitement I felt the first time my family took me to an amusement park. I couldn’t wait for the day to arrive when we would travel to this place of wonder, thrills and delight. Some of my greatest childhood memories happened within the gates of a theme park. Everyone enjoys the ferris wheel, the flying phoenix, the chill of making that first high speed drop from 15 stories above the ground, the excitement of the logs as we made that first splash but nothing can compare to that first ride on a roller coaster. The roller coaster has been bringing joy to the lives of young and old for nearly two centuries. And considering that in 1898 a Mr. Edwin Prescott first patented the roller coaster on this day in history, I felt it fitting to explore the growth and development of America’s favorite thrill ride.

Russian ice slides dating back to 1600s served as the beginnings

The development of the roller coaster began during the 17th century, In Russia, most likely St. Petersburg, with an ice slide, built from lumber, towering above the ground as high as eighty feet, covered in a sheet of ice. Thrill seekers could sled down the slight half pipe looking structure at high rates of speed. The slides were found so entertaining that even the royalty took notice and it is said that Catherine the Great had several of her own built for her personal pleasure.

The first coaster built in France called the Russes a Belleville.

Whether it was the Russians or the French who first added wheels we do know that the first coasters were built in 1817 by the French. They included attached cars that ran on a track. In 1846, the first looping coaster began trial runs in Paris. After twenty years it fell out of fashion to be succeeded by another. But the next experienced an accident during the trial run and was quickly shut down.

Imported from England, the first looping coaster was established in Paris (1846).

It would be 1873 before the Americans began developing their own coaster. Starting with a railroad track, previously used for transporting coal and recently put out of commission, the rail cars carried passengers down a mountainside in Pennsylvania and provided spectacular views of the Lehigh River and the Blue Ridge mountains. The railway ride grew in popularity and soon attracted patrons from all over. Sadly it was shut down in 1929, due to the onset of the depression never to be reopened.

La Marcus Adna Thompson, considered the father of the American roller coaster, developed and opened The Switchback Railway during the spring of 1884 at Coney Island. After several new developments and the opening of a second coaster in Atlantic City, Thompson laid the foundation for the American love affair with the roller coaster.

The switchback Railway opened in Coney Island (1884).

To date the oldest surviving roller coaster is located in Lakemont Park in Pennsylvania. Called the “Leap the Dips”, this coaster built in 1902 takes the rider back in time to a simpler day and is now named a National Landmark.

The development of the roller coaster has had its share of ups and downs, but as the growth of roller coasters spread and improved, with them grew theme parks. Much of our summertime thrills can be credited to the development of the roller coaster and what better fun can be had than a nice summer day spent riding roller coasters, eating hotdogs, and playing carnival games?