Fairyland Park | 7501 Prospect Ave. | 1923-1977
Before there was Worlds of Fun, there was Fairyland Park — an 80-acre amusement destination with a dance hall, rides, swimming, a drive-in theater, and a petting zoo.
A family affair
Maria Brancato Accurso was living a child’s fantasy. She and her family lived just inside the park’s entrance. Maria’s grandfather, Salvatore “Sam” Brancato — a Silician immigrant + blacksmith — came to the US in 1896. He went into the grocery business and, a short time later, began buying real estate. The park opened in 1923 as a $1 million investment and remained in the family until it closed in 1977.
Quick facts
- At its peak, the park featured 3 roller coasters, an olympic-sized swimming pool, and an 8-story ferris wheel.
- It only took a nickel to get there by streetcar and a quarter to get in the gates.
- While 2 other ballrooms in KC — The Pla-Mor and the El Torreon — closed in the summer heat, Fairyland Park stayed open. It hosted popular jazz bands like Thamon Hayes’ Kansas City Rockets and Bennie Moten’s Kansas City Orchestra.
- Despite welcoming African-American bands to play, the park was segregated for much of its operating time.
- Minority groups were allowed into the park 1 day a year — although the family doesn’t remember it as a “hard and fast rule” — until activist groups fully desegregated the park in 1964.
The demise
The park faced 5 fires, a lightning strike at the Skyrocket ride in 1942, and a storm in 1977 that bent the ferris wheel in half. Competition was fierce when Worlds of Fun opened in 1974. Ultimately, costs rose and the family was forced to sell. The park’s largest roller coaster — The Wildcat — was salvaged and sent to a western theme park in Oklahoma.
Winnwood Beach | Chouteau Crossing, Clay County | 1913-1937
Kansas City was once the home of a beach that rivaled tourist trap Atlantic City. Winnwood Beach was an amusement park on a spring-fed lake between North Kansas City + Liberty.
Frank Winn
Winn moved to the county with his family in 1850. He dammed a lake on his family property with the intention of dividing the land up + selling it. Frank visited Atlantic City in 1911, and his vision expanded. He created an 800-foot beach along the shoreline. By Winnwood’s opening in 1913, he had added a canoe rental house + dance pavilion. Over the years, he dug 2 more lakes and added a bathhouse, diving platforms, amusement park rides, a zoo, a roller rink, and “monkey island.”
Quick facts
- The dance pavilion brought performances from jazz greats like Bennie Moten + Charlie Parker.
- The 40-foot-wide boardwalk gave Winnwood its nickname, “The Atlantic City of the West.”
- At its busiest, Winnwood spanned 150 acres + saw ~10,000 visitors on Sundays.
- Like Fairyland, Winnwood only allowed African-American entertainers through its doors.
- Minorities could only visit the attraction on 2 anniversary celebrations.
The Demise
Disaster struck the attraction again and again. The Great Depression slowed paid admissions. Kids and vandals released monkeys on 2 occasions. An explosion damaged the dance pavilion, and a large section of the boardwalk collapsed at a 1935 4th of July celebration. Frank filed for bankruptcy. His sister bought the resort, but another fire broke out + the dam burst. Lake of the Woods lost its water, and Winnwood closed for good.
Quiz