Parachute Jump - Steeplechase Park

Steeplechase Park

After the fair, the Tilyou family, owners of Coney Island's Steeplechase Park, purchased the Parachute Jump for $150,000. It was disassembled and moved to its current location adjacent to the Riegelmann boardwalk, between West 16th and West 19th Streets. The ride required some modifications in its new windier shore-side location.

The Jump, which attracted as many as half a million riders annually, was described as "flying in a free fall". Occasionally, riders could get "stranded in mid-air or tangled in cables", although sometimes this may have been for the amusement of operators. Nevertheless, the ride was fickle and subject to shutdowns on windy days, and was not very profitable. During World War II, when much of the city adhered to a blackout, the ride stayed lit to serve as a navigational beacon.

The Jump closed for good, along with Steeplechase Park in 1964, the victim of rising crime, neighborhood decline, and competing entertainment. There has been some confusion as to whether the Parachute Jump immediately stopped operating or continued until 1968. The New York Times issued a correction in November 2003, stating that a report in a column earlier that month "gave an incorrect year from the Landmarks Preservation Commission for the shutdown of the ride. It occurred in 1964, when the rest of Steeplechase Park closed, not in 1968", while Kaufman's History says "The Jump continued to operate until 1968, part of a group of small scale rides operated on the now nearly vacant lot." The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation agrees with Kaufman, stating "the property was subleased to small ride operators and concessionaires, who ran the Parachute Jump until 1968." Subsequent research by Kaufman and others confirmed that the Jump did indeed give its final ride at the end of the 1964 season.