Page 104 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript Americana - Sale 2310 - April 16, 2013

221 ● (NEW YORK CITY.) Group of blueprints of Coney Island and amusement
park attractions. 45 blueprints, one blueline print, 2 original drawings, and several building
permit documents; various sizes and conditions.
Vp, 1918-64, bulk 1940-49 [2,500/3,500]
These plans all relate to the famous strip of amusement parks, arcades, and restaurants which
line the beach of Brooklyn’s Coney Island. Most of the plans are from a two-block stretch along
the boardwalk along either side of West 16th Street (now Kensington Walk). This land now
encompasses part of the home stadium of the Brooklyn Cyclones baseball team and an adjacent
vacant lot. This collection includes plans for a restaurant, miniature golf course, and arcades on
various corners of this property from 1938 to 1964. Most notably, the collection includes the
1947 plans for an elephant track and stables. Billboard Magazine discussed this attraction:
“The Circus Equipment Corporation opened an elephant ride on Coney Island Monday. Five
bulls, all broken to carry howdahs, are used on a 500-foot track. A fireproof barn is used for
stabling” (5 July 1947, page 85).
Also included in this lot are: “Revolving Platform within the Building,” 811-817 Surf
Avenue, uncredited, 15 December 1919 * Group of 6 plans for the Witching Waves rides at
Detroit and at Euclid Beach Park in Cleveland, OH, some crediting the design to inventor
and proprietor Theophilus Van Kannel of Brooklyn, January 1918 and February-April 1924
(originally a Coney Island attraction, and later licensed to other locations) * Structural plan of
a portion of the Thunderbolt (a Coney Island roller coaster built in 1925), 19 June 1928 *
“An Analytical Determination of the Stresses & Safety Factors in the Rollo-Plane.” 8 manu-
script pages with engineering drawings copied onto one blueprint sheet, by the Everly Aircraft
Co. of Salem, OR, 11 October 1938 (this ride burned at Coney Island’s Luna Park in
1944) * “Plan of New Amusement Device Patented March 1st #2,109,972” by Peter F.
Meyer, Brooklyn, undated, but the patent issued in 1938 described a ride “wherein a compara-
tively large number of persons may use the device at one time and be in view of each other at
all times” * “1947 Bubble Bounce Foundation Plan” by the Custer Specialty Co. of Dayton,
OH, 21 April 1947, a ride which was built in Coney Island in this period (see Billboard, 24
May 1947, page 76). A more detailed list is available.