Elitch Gardens Carousel

Philadelphia Toboggan Company Carousel #6

The carousel in 2009
Location Kit Carson County Fairgrounds
815 15th St
Burlington, Colorado 80807
Coordinates 39°18′36″N 102°16′10″W / 39.31000°N 102.26944°W / 39.31000; -102.26944Coordinates: 39°18′36″N 102°16′10″W / 39.31000°N 102.26944°W / 39.31000; -102.26944
Built 1905
Architect Philadelphia Toboggan Company
NRHP Reference # 78000861
Significant dates
Added to NRHP December 19, 1978[1]
Designated NHL February 27, 1987[2]

Elitch Gardens Carousel, also known as Philadelphia Toboggan Company Carousel #6 or as the Kit Carson County Carousel, is a 1905 Philadelphia Toboggan Company carousel located in Burlington, Colorado.

History

Philadelphia Toboggan Company Carousel #6 was manufactured in 1905 for Elitch Gardens. It was used at the park every summer until 1928, when the park acquired a new carousel and sold the existing carousel and band organ to Kit Carson County for $1,200, including the cost of delivery by train to Burlington. During the Depression, the carousel spent six years in storage, re-entering use in 1937.[3]

Restoration of the carousel's band organ began in 1976. The Kit Carson County Carousel was designated a National Historic Site in 1978 and a National Historic Landmark in 1987.[2][4] Restoration efforts continued in 1987 with work to restore the original paint to the animals, chariots, and the outer rim, new siding applied to the carousel building and Victorian-inspired landscaping. A second restoration to the carousel animals took place in 1992. Grants financed research into and restoration of the carousel's original lighting, machinery room, moldings on the paintings, and the Wurlitzer band organ in 1997.

1981 theft and return

In May 1981, thieves removed three small horses and a donkey from the carousel during a heavy rainstorm. The animals were later recovered from a Salina, Kansas warehouse and returned to the carousel following a parade through Burlington in October 1981. Commemorative markers on the carousel mark the recovered animals' locations.[5]

Carousel details

Type: 3 rows, Park, Stationary, all wood composition
Figures: 25 standing horses, 4 chariots; standing horses include 2 burros, 3 camels, 1 dog, 3 deer, 3 giraffes, 3 goats, 1 hippocampus, 1 lion, 1 tiger, and 3 zebras
Music: 1909 Wurlitzer 155 "Monster" military band organ

It is the only antique carousel in America retaining its original paint on both the scenery panels and the animals, and it is the only surviving menagerie (having other animals in addition to horses) carousel made by Philadelphia Toboggan Company.[6]

References

  1. ↑ National Park Service (2007-01-23). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 "Philadelphia Toboggan Company Carousel #6". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved 2007-10-14.
  3. ↑ Kit Carson County Carousel. Colorado Historical Society Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation.
  4. ↑ James H. Charleton (Undated, 1983 or later). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Philadelphia Toboggan Company Carousel #6 / Elitch Gardens Carousel (1905-28) / Kit Carson County Carousel (1928-date)" (pdf). National Park Service. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ↑ Kit Carson County Carousel. Our Journey. Prairie Development Corporation. 2004.
  6. ↑ Census of Operating North American Carousels. National Carousel Association. January 14, 2007.

External links

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