The Parachute Jump is a defunct amusement ride and a landmark in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, along the Riegelmann Boardwalk at Coney Island.

The ride, the only remaining portion of Steeplechase Park, is a New York City designated landmark and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

[29] Another jump, also reportedly designed by Strong, was installed at the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne in Paris in 1937.

[31] The ride, known as the Parachute Jump, was to be in the fair's amusement zone, along the eastern shore of Meadow Lake in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Queens.

[16] Within three days of the ride's opening, a 12-foot (3.7 m) flagpole was added atop the original 250-foot-tall (76 m) tower to surpass the height of a statue within the Soviet Pavilion.

[46] The couple returned to ride again the next day, having been congratulated for their courage by New York City mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, who had been at the World's Fair when they got stuck.

[47] At least two other groups of people became stuck on the Parachute Jump in its first year: a deputy sheriff and his sister-in-law later in July 1939,[48] and two female friends that September.

[53][54] After the Life Savers sponsorship ended at the conclusion of the 1939 season,[53] the WFC decided to relocate the ride to attract more visitors.

[68][69] International Parachuting sued Strong to prevent him from selling the rights to the ride to third parties,[69][70] though they ultimately reached a settlement that June.

[64] The Parachute Jump ultimately was the fair's second-most popular amusement attraction, behind the Billy Rose's Aquacade stage show.

[82] The fire had destroyed many of the larger attractions, including a Flying Turns roller coaster, whose site stood empty a year after the blaze.

[91] During World War II, when much of the city was subject to a military blackout,[21][81] a navigational beacon atop the ride stayed lit.

[95][98] Coney Island's popularity receded during the 1960s as it underwent increased crime, insufficient parking facilities, and patterns of bad weather.

The Coney Island historian Charles Denson explained that the jump closed in 1964 but that many publications give an erroneous date of 1968.

[105] The nonprofit Coney Island History Project maintains that the attraction closed in 1964 and the 1968 date was based on an inaccurate newspaper article.

[108] A New York World-Telegram article the following year described a plan to restore Steeplechase Park, which included turning the Parachute Jump into the "world's largest bird feeding station".

[106] That October, the city announced a plan to acquire the 125 acres (51 ha) of the former Steeplechase Park so the land could be reserved for recreational use.

[121] Norman Kaufman, who had run a small collection of fairground amusements on the Steeplechase site since the 1960s,[122] was interested in reopening the Parachute Jump.

[133] The local community board recommended that the Parachute Jump be demolished if it could not be fixed, but NYC Parks commissioner Henry Stern said in January 1984 that his department had "decided to let it stand".

[134] Stern dismissed the possibility of making the Parachute Jump operational again, calling it a "totally useless structure" and saying that even the Eiffel Tower had a restaurant.

[98] In the mid-1980s, restaurant mogul Horace Bullard proposed rebuilding Steeplechase Park;[125][135] his plans included making the Parachute Jump operational again.

[137] In 1987, the LPC hosted meetings to determine the feasibility of granting landmark status to the Parachute Jump, Wonder Wheel, and Coney Island Cyclone.

[6][138] Following this, the Board of Estimate granted permission for Bullard to develop his amusement park on the Steeplechase site, including reopening the Parachute Jump.

[144] The Bullard deal was negated in 1994,[135] and the site directly north of the Parachute Jump was developed into a sports stadium, KeySpan Park,[a] which opened in 2000.

[153][154] Upon the completion of the project, Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz started studying proposals to reuse or reopen the structure.

Markowitz's office, NYC Parks, the NYCEDC, Schwendinger, and STV collaborated for two years on the project,[7] which cost $1.45 million.

[155] The Coney Island Development Corporation and the Van Alen Institute held an architecture contest in 2004 to determine future uses for the 7,800-square-foot (720 m2) pavilion at the jump's base.

The winning design outlined a bowtie-shaped pavilion with lighting and an all-season activity center, which included a souvenir shop, restaurant, bar, and exhibition space.

[155][164] Anti-climbing devices were installed on the Parachute Jump in 2010 after several instances of people scaling the structure,[6] and the lights were temporarily turned off in 2011 because of a lack of maintenance.

[7][9] The New York Daily News compared the structure to an Erector Set toy in 1955,[17] and another reporter for the same newspaper said in 2002 that the jump was "a rusting monument to the glory days of Coney Island".