Steeplechase
"I have trouble today that I did not have yesterday.
I had troubles yesterday that I have not today.
On this site will be erected shortly a better, bigger
greater Steeplechase Park. Admission to the
Burning Ruins—10 cents." -George Tilyou (Adams)
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Born on February 3, 1862-1830 in NY, Tilyou moved to Coney Island when he was three years old. He grew up knowing the island and at an early age showed a knack for dealing with customers. When he was fourteen, he set up a merchant's stand and sold bottles of beach water and boxes of beach sand for 25 cents each. Then, at 17, he began operating a real estate business and began publishing his own newspaper, “Tilyou’s Telephone.” At the age of 20 he and his father jointly owned Coney Island’s first theatre, Tilyou’s Surf Theatre. All of these things combined show that Tilyou was destined to influence Coney Island. Indeed, he did when he single-handedly blew the whistle on John McKane for illegal activities on Coney Island to a legislative committee.
In 1893, Tilyou and his wife traveled to the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago where he experienced his first midway and saw the first Ferris Wheel. Unable to buy it, he borrowed money and ordered one to be built at Coney Island in time for the summer of 1894. It paid for itself within 50 days and from its profit he funded the expansion of his amusement park. In 1897, Steeplechase opened its doors to the public (Adams).
A fire in 1907 burned Steeplechase to the ground. Wanting to rebuild it in time for the 1908 season, Tilyou decided to use all noncombustible material and replaced all wood with steel, glass, and concrete. These materials enabled Coney to look more modern but did not look as expensive as stone or marble could. Many agreed with the decision saying that “the utilization of staff and steel frees architecture" from feeling too stuffy and those materials could be just as beautiful as marble (Slosson 136). The cheaper materials also lent well to the wear and tear of large crowds and blended in with the atmosphere in a way more expensive materials could not.
When Tilyou rebuilt he added a Palace of Pleasure that had a French Renaissance style decor and a large ballroom built in Louis XIV style. This shows that the 1893 World's Fair made a lasting impression on Tilyou because his buildings frequently resembled those of the White City, but had a Midway twist to them to merge expensive style with practicality and fun. As the first of the three parks built, its style never compared to the extravagant design the later parks would display, but with that brought a comfort and welcoming atmosphere, which continued to make Steeplechase the most popular and longest lasting of the three.
By growing up on Coney Island, Tilyou knew the area well and decided that an amusement park would flourish there. After Sea Lion Park, the luxury hotels opened and Coney Island's reputation began to turn around. “The reform of Coney Island was effected not so much by the pressure of public opinion of the respectable people who did not go there, or internal conviction of sin on the part of the dive keepers, or by the strong arm of the law, although some courageous police action wiped out the most disreputable of the gambling hells, but primarily because it was discovered that vice does not pay as well as decency. It was learned that decent people have in the aggregate more money to spend" (Slosson 131). So as more upper class patrons visited the island, they spent their money extravagantly and in effect rebuilt the beach.
In fact, by the time the three big amusement parks were open, the Island had pretty much been swept clean of its seedier inhabitants. “The Island is cleaner and straighter that it was. The tin-horn gambler has gone, the short-change artist has retired to the background, the gamblers, the swindlers, the pickpockets and the thugs no longer have their own way. At times, we have 300,000 people visiting the beach in one day, with nothing worse happening than a few cases of intoxication” (Thompson 1462). While there would always be some vice present at Coney, the respectable people of New York were no longer afraid to come and spend the day, and Steeplechase was partially to thank for that.
