The park originally was conceived by one of the three Philadelphia area traction companies, Peoples Traction Company, as a means to encourage weekend customers on the trolley line, a practice that led to the coining of the term trolley park.

One of the biggest attractions in the park was the music pavilion, at which John Philip Sousa and his band played several times between 1901 and 1926.

The mall pays homage to its predecessor by displaying banners and other objects which hark back to the land's days as an amusement park.

James A. Michener wrote a novel in 1949 entitled The Fires of Spring, telling the story of a young orphan boy named David Harper growing up in a poorhouse in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, which is near Willow Grove Park.

Bill Cosby wrote and performed a stand-up routine called "Roland and the Rollercoaster", describing a childhood ride on the roller coaster at Willow Grove Park.