Rockaways' Playland

The park was sold in 1927 to Robert Katlin, who added amenities such as a gym and swimming pool, and the following year to A. Joseph Geist, who achieved greater success than the previous owners.

[2] In 1900, George Tilyou, owner of Steeplechase Park in Brooklyn's Coney Island, purchased land in the Seaside neighborhood along Rockaway Beach.

[3] Within a year, Tilyou offered to sell 2 acres (0.81 ha) to LaMarcus Adna Thompson,[4] a roller coaster designer who had been nearly bankrupted when the assassination of William McKinley prevented him from showing his Switchback Railway at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition.

In 1903, a ferry dock was built adjacent to the park, enabling visitors from other boroughs to visit it or one of the other several amusement districts along the beach and boardwalk.

[8] In January 1928, the park was purchased by A. Joseph Geist, a Queens lawyer and businessman who would go on to serve as the president of the Rockaways Chamber of Commerce and on the Board of Higher Education.

[11][12] Renaming it Rockaways' Playland, Geist soon launched an expansion project that added a dance hall, menagerie, and roller coaster.

[4] More attractions, including a kiddie park named Joytown, were added in 1949, followed by the installation of new lighting systems the following year under a $1 million modernization program.

[13][4] Visitors continued to arrive from various places in the New York metropolitan area such as Jersey City, Lower Manhattan, and Yonkers.

[18] At its opening, Thompson's Amusement Park included a steeplechase-style ride, where patrons would race along a track on horse-shaped vehicles, as well as a 1,000-foot-long (300 m) bathhouse on the boardwalk.

[4] In 1930 Geist added a Noah's Ark style attraction, with a setting resembling Mount Ararat, on the arena's site.

[13] Other additions in the early 1930s included flat rides such as the Rig-a-Jig, Leaping Lena, Cave O'Laffs, and the Pretzel.