Former Sections of the Township of Ocean

  Asbury Park Former Sections - Part 11

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FORMER SECTIONS OF THE TOWNSHIP OF OCEAN

Asbury Park had two carousels, one at the Asbury Park Casino the other at Palace Amusements.  The two were directly across the intersection of Lake, Ocean and Asbury Avenues from each other.

Palace Amusements was built first and opened in 1888 as a classic Victorian pavilion. Its main attraction was a carousel, with hand-carved wooden horses, giraffes, camels, goats, and deer.

Over the winter of 1900-1901, the original carousel was replaced by a four ring machine designed by Ernest Schnitzler at a cost of $12,000.

A fire in 1910 seriously damaged the carousel, destroying a number of animals designed by Charles I.D. Looff, one of the nation's first great carousel artists. Palace owner Ernest Schnitzler turned to William Mangels, an engineer and ride manufacturer from Coney Island, to manage the reconstruction.

Palace Amusements closed on November 27, 1988.

The north side of the boardwalk belonged to the Convention Center. On the south side, bordering the religious community of Ocean Grove, arose several structures designed by New York Beaux-Arts architects Whitney Warren & Charles Wetmore (designers of Grand Central Station) that would define the town’s character: a huge casino and its accompanying arcade boasted an assortment of amusements in its entertainment complex, from rides to concessions to year-round accommodations. Carousel #87 from the Philadelphia Toboggan Company was installed in the ornate Carousel House in 1932 and would run for more than half a century.

But over time Asbury Park declined, and by the 1980s the entertainment district had more or less disintegrated. The buildings were abandoned and left to decay. The famed carousel was bought in 1990 and moved to Family Kingdom Park in Myrtle Beach, S.C., where it now operates with fiberglass replicas of the original wooden horses.