Eldora Park - Recollections

Recollections

If you have photos or recollections about Eldora Park you would like to share, send your thoughts to info@EldoraPark.com and your comments will be considered for publication.

My Grandfather, Rueben Fear (pictured left) was a conductor on the trolleys.

Although he passed away when I was 2 yrs old, my father would take me on the trolleys and we would take car rides and walking trips on the trolley routes. It impressed me very much when I was young.

Today I have pictures of trolleys and of my grandfather framed and hanging in my house.

Rueben Fear
April, 2009

A REMINISCENCE OF MY YOUTH, contributed by the late Tom Phillips, Revised March 24, 2002

"Come on, Tom -- we're going up-street," my mother would say in the local colloquialism of the day, meaning that we were going shopping. To a three-year old kid growing up in North Charleroi, Pennsylvania, in 1932, these words conjured up the vision and excitement of a streetcar ride to Charleroi, a trip of about one mile -- and, since they were heard infrequently because of the economic conditions of the times, these words only heightened the anticipation of the trip. more...

	My Grandfather, Walter S. Rockwell, Sr. received this invitation to a reception at Eldora Park in 1904.
This is one of his business cards. He did construction and electrical work at Eldora Park around 1910. He also worked at Shady Grove Park around the same time. As a Park Constructor, he built carnival rides. As a Spieler (a carnival "talker" or "barker"), he enticed people into carnival side shows. M. P. operator was Motion Picture Operator.
In 1905, according to an article in the Connellsville Courier, "informations" were made against Walter Rockwell and other Shady Grove Park management by the constable charging them with operating a ferris wheel, an electric theatre and other amusements on a Sunday in violation of local blue laws. ("Stopped the Wheel," The Courier [Connellsville, PA], September 12, 1905, http://newspaperarchive.com/, retrieved June 1, 2008.)
Richard Rockwell Grew up in Fisher Heights, currently living in Bloomfield, New Jersey