This summer we take a look back at the playgrounds of yesteryear in our series THE SOUTH COAST AS IT WAS.
HULL – For nearly 80 years and several generations, one of the region’s most popular summer attractions was located right in Hull: Paragon Park.
Almost everyone in the small peninsula town had a friend or relative who worked there, and the sounds and sights of the park shaped their summer memories.
One of those people is Christoper Haraden of Hanover, who grew up a few blocks from the park on Rockview Road. Haraden was too young to work at Paragon Park before it closed, but he worked at the Playland Penny Arcade along the Nantasket Strip.
His grandfather, Frank Infusino, worked as a roller coaster mechanic in the mornings after his night shift as a police officer.
“I loved listening to him talk about the park and I was fascinated by it,” said Haraden, who is working on a book about Paragon Park. “I wish I had brought a tape recorder with me when I listened to him and his friends talk about it, so I tried to relive those memories.”
The early days of Paragon Park
Once known as the “Playground of New England,” Paragon Park on Nantasket Beach was built by Boston businessman George Dodge and opened in 1905.
In its early years, the World’s Fair-style park featured exhibits such as a model of the Johnstown Flood, a replica of a Cairo street, and exotic animals. In the center of the park was a lagoon on which visitors could ride gondolas.
Since only the rich could visit places like Europe and Asia by boat, Paragon Park recreated the experiences with shows and exhibitions, according to Haraden.
Many visitors arrived by train or steamship and stayed for a week or two at a time. There was also a dining and dance hall at the back of the park where many of the visitors ate and spent their evenings.
Paragon Park focuses on games and rides
Over time, the park added rides and games and evolved into a more traditional amusement park. On a busy summer day, up to 50,000 people would arrive at the park by ferry or car.
Haraden said the park is free to enter and people pay per ride or game. As a result, the park has become a gathering place for many people.
“It was a place where people gathered, where you could see your friends and acquaintances and feel safe,” he said. “There was always something going on.”
The highlight was the Giant Roller Coaster, built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Co. It was 1,400 feet long and 92 feet high at its peak, making it the tallest roller coaster in the world from 1917 to 1925, when it was surpassed by the roller coaster at Revere Beach.
During the ride of less than two minutes, the roller coaster reached speeds of up to 85 km/h.
The roller coaster survived several fires, including in 1932 and 1962. After the first fire, it was partially redesigned by Herbert Paul Schmeck, who had also worked on the original construction.
Haraden said the sounds of the park – the roller coaster, the music and the screaming children – were a big part of his childhood.
“It was part of the atmosphere,” he said.
Even today, he stands in his mother’s driveway, looks at where the roller coaster was and imagines he can still hear it.
“It was part of growing up,” he said.
The closure of Paragon Park
Paragon Park operated until the end of the 1984 season. Larry and Phyllis Stone, whose family owned it for 65 years, sold the park to a condominium development group in 1985. The remaining rides were auctioned off.
The Giant Roller Coaster was moved to Six Flags in Maryland, where it has been renovated several times and is still in operation today. Now called Wild One, it is the oldest roller coaster in a Six Flags park.
The Paragon Carousel, added in 1928, is still in operation as the last remaining ride from the old amusement park. The Paragon Park Museum is located in the Clock Tower Building next to the carousel, allowing visitors to learn more about the old park. The museum is operated by the Friends of the Paragon Carousel, the nonprofit organization that now owns the carousel. Haraden served on the organization’s advisory board.
He said the fact that the carousel has been preserved is a nice memory of the park.
“There’s a whole generation or two for whom the carousel is a standalone thing. They don’t see it as part of something else or bigger,” he said. “It shows how things are changing.”
For years after the park closed, workers held their annual meetings in a gazebo across Nantasket Avenue where the park once stood.
