Operators of Hartford’s Bushnell Park Carousel have begun counting down to a 100th birthday restoration and celebration of one of the last 200 wooden carousels operating in the U.S.
The New England Carousel Museum in Bristol operates the carousel owned by the city of Hartford. The carousel turns 100 in 2014.
A family day is planned for the carousel on Saturday, July 28th from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., rain or shine. Free birthday cake and punch will be served from noon to 1 p.m. that day.
This year’s celebration will honor the memory of Hartford architect John “Jack” Dollard, responsible for bringing the carousel to Hartford, carousel museum Executive Director Louise DeMars said. Dollard died June 22 at his home in Mexico.
According to the museum, the Bushnell Park Carousel was created in 1914 by Solomon Stein and Harry Goldstein, owners of the Artistic Carousel Co. of Brooklyn, N.Y.
It is one of only three Stein & Goldstein carousels left in operation in the U.S. that still provides public rides.
The carousel features 36 jumper horses (going up and down), 12 standers (stationary horses), two chariots, and a newly restored 1921 Wurlitzer band organ. It operated outside of Albany, N.Y., until 1940 when it was moved to Meyers Lake Amusement Park in Canton, Ohio.
In 1974, the museum said, funding from Hartford’s Knox Foundation brought the carousel to Hartford as part of the revitalization of Downtown Hartford. The museum has managed the carousel for the city since 1999.
