Although not that many people know the name, C.V. Wood was the—shall we say—enterprising individual who helped get Disneyland built, then got fired, then opened his own park development firm. He opened three parks with Marco Engineering, the first two being Magic Mountain in Colorado and Pleasure Island in Massachusetts. The third one opened for business June 19, 1960 on marshland and a former landfill in the Bronx. Five seasons later it was all over. Many reasons have been put forth for its demise, but it’s probably more complicated than that. I tried to summarize it as best I could in the book, but generally speaking it came down to an incredibly complicated ownership/investment arrangement, no one person really in charge of everything, hugely expensive operational costs, an expensive land lease, competition for attendance, skyrocketing land values in New York, and a few other items of varying intrigue. It was a messy situation, but the park was a pretty neat place, billed to compete with Disneyland.
The gallery here is from the opening season guidebook, which I own. Go check out Bob McLaughlin’s two Freedomland books from the Images of America series, as well as Michael Virgintino’s Freedomland USA: The Definitive Guide. Also of interest are two DVDs featuring great footage from the park, available at http://freedomlandusa.net. And no, I don’t get anything from these folks. I’m just trying to help spread the word for people interested in park history. For now, take a look at the expansive, American-themed park that must have been quite the experience in the early 1960s.
