Part 493: Thomas G. Moses’ Old Mill Scenery for Luna Park in 1905
I return to other painting projects by Thomas G. Moses during the year 1905, after getting sidetracked by the Ringling Brothers’ grand spectacles. Thomas G. Moses was still creating amusement park scenery, but as a Sosman & Landis employee. Past New York Coney Island projects were created with Will Hamilton as part of Moses & Hamilton; the two had worked on the Trip to the Moon, Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, War of the Worlds, Fire and Flames, and other much smaller shows. In 1904, Moses moved from New York to Chicago.
In 1905 Moses wrote, “I had to go to Cleveland to put in a lot of old mill scenery at Luna Park. Ed Thompson went with me and J. H. Young went to do the properties and papier mache work.” In 1904. John H. Young had just opened his own studio in New York. He was a long-time friend of Moses; they had worked on various projects together since the 1870s. Young would later be known for his many Broadway designs.
The Old Mill in attraction in Cleveland and elsewhere was a “Tunnel of Love” ride. It had been a success at the Pan-American exposition and immediately replicated at Coney Island. Floating down a babbling brook, visitors traveled past simulated lakes, cavernous tunnels, and a picturesque landscape. The Buffalo Evening News described old mill rides as an amusement consisting of “many tunnels through which float boats on a stream of water” (Buffalo, New York, 10 August, 1905, page 22). On August 10, 1905, there was a breakdown of the plant of the United Electric Light and Power Company, plunging the Coney Island’s Luna Park into darkness. It provides some insight into the mechanics of the ride, as the loss of electricity caused the flow of the water to cease and the boats to settle to the bottom.
Luna Park in Cleveland, Ohio, opened in 1905 and lasted until 1929, when it was destroyed by fire. Constructed by Frederick Ingersoll of Ingersoll Construction Company, the park was located on a 35-acre site, bounded by Woodland Avenue, Woodhill, Mt. Caramel, and East 110th Street. Ingersoll Construction Company got its start by building roller coasters and other amusement park rides. The first two parks that Ingersoll opened were in Cleveland and Pittsburgh in 1905, both of which Moses created scenery for the old mill attraction.
Of Ingersoll’s second park, Moses wrote, “We went to Pittsburg to do an old mill there for the same firm. We also did two small stages in the Pittsburg Park.” At one time, Ingersoll owned and operated over forty amusement parks not only in the United States, but also in Berlin, Germany and Mexico City.
Although Cleveland’s Luna Park shared the same name as the one on Coney Island in New York, there was no official affiliation, yet Ingersoll’s Luna Parks replicated many of the rides from Coney Island. The Old Mill ride was featured alongside other attractions, such as Fire and Flames, Coasting the Gorge, Trip to the Moon, Scenic Railways, the Miniature Railway, the Circle Swing and Infant Incubators. The Old Mill was a six-minute ride for 10 cents (The Scranton Republican, 18 June 1905, page 6 and The Raleigh Times, 7 July 1905, page 11).
Although Moses was on staff at Sosman & Landis in Chicago, he would still accept a variety of independent projects. In 1906, he would briefly partner with Will Hamilton to produce additional scenery for Pittsburgh’s Luna Park. He wrote, “Did some designs for a Park in Pittsburg for my old partner Hamilton. I did them in black and white, rather effective.” There is no other information to identify his second project for Pittsburg’s Luna Park.
To be continued…
