Willow Grove Park

This article is about the former amusement park. For the shopping mall that now occupies its site, see Willow Grove Park Mall.
Willow Grove Park
Willow Grove Park
LocationWillow Grove, Pennsylvania
StatusDefunct
Opened1896 (1896)
Closed1975 (1975)

Willow Grove Park was an amusement park located in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. It operated for eighty years, from 1896 to 1975.[1] It was the main competitor to Woodside Amusement Park in Fairmount Park until its closure.

Aerial view of Willow Grove Park in 1926

The park originally was conceived by one of the three Philadelphia area traction companies, Peoples Traction Company, as a means to encourage weekend customers on the trolley line, a practice that led to the coining of the term trolley park.[2]

The park was served by the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Co. (PRT), and later by the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) Route 6 streetcar line. Streetcar service to the park ended in 1958 when the Pennsylvania Highway Department (predecessor to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation) acquired portions of the area for construction of the Pennsylvania Route 309 Expressway.

One of the biggest attractions in the park was the music pavilion, at which John Philip Sousa and his band played several times between 1901 and 1926.[3] The pavilion was demolished in March 1959.

The park operated under the name Six Gun Territory from 1972 until its closure. The park's closure was announced in April 1976, and it sat vacant for several years until the land was cleared for a large shopping mall known as Willow Grove Park Mall, which opened in August 1982. The mall pays homage to its predecessor by displaying banners and other objects which hark back to the land's days as an amusement park. A merry-go-round built and installed in 2001 operates within the mall.

  1. ^ Pileggi, Stephen (July 6, 2015). "Documentary to capture history of Willow Grove Park". Times Chronicle. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  2. ^ Adler, Thomas A. (2011). Bean Blossom: The Brown County Jamboree and Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Festivals p. xvii. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-2520-7810-1.
  3. ^ Bierley, Paul E. (2006). The Incredible Band of John Philip Sousa p. 49. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-2520-3147-2.