We Asked For Your Chicago Amusement Park Memories. Our Audience Shared Fond Memories of Riverview Park

A thrilling ride on the Bobs. A scary story from the Pair-O-Chutes. A stolen kiss in the Tunnel of Love. As part of Chicago Stories: Amusement Parks, we asked our audience to share memories of the city’s amusement parks, and you delivered, focusing on Riverview Park in particular and fond – and occasionally thrilling – moments from the bygone park.

Want to add your Riverview memories to the mix? You can still share them here! You can also stream the entire documentary at any time at this link.

Some responses have been edited or condensed for clarity.

Audience Memories of Riverview Park

Barbara Chrisman, who lived on the Northwest Side, remembered going with her brother and parents to Riverview every summer.

“What fun to go on the Flying Turns, Shoot the Chutes, Tilt-a-Whirl and other favorite rides, plus play Skee-ball!”

Rusty Foszcz had a pretty cool aunt. His Aunt Jeanette would take all of his Chicago-area cousins to Riverview each year, too.

“My most vivid memory was when we rode the Wild Mouse (which we kids called the Mouse Trap) roller coaster for the first time. The car chugged along a hundred feet above the park where it abruptly made a left-hand turn just as you thought you were going to plunge right off the track!”

Claudia Swarthout recalled her family’s first visit to Riverview and also shared an affinity for the Wild Mouse:

“We went to Riverview as a family when my uncle got free tickets for all 12 of us from his workplace. Being from a farm in Indiana, it was the ultimate summer experience that year. I remember loving the Wild Mouse, although I am usually afraid of roller coasters!”

Betty Helsper, who is now 96 years old, also lived outside the city, and went with her aunt and a friend on 2-cent day.

“I was probably 9 or 10. We lived in the country so a trip on a streetcar was in itself a big adventure. I always loved the roller coasters and the water ride and eventually got brave enough to go on the Pair-O-Chutes! When I had kids of my own, I’d take a carload to Riverview several times each summer.”

Lottie Bell remembers feeling dazzled by Riverview in her childhood, and she visited "almost every Friday" with her mom, aunt, and a friend.

"When it was closing time, close to midnight, we would then walk home down Western Avenue and stop at the Moshe Pippic hot dog street vendor for hot dogs and bunch-style tamales. Riverview was so gigantic and seemed like a big city to me. It was exciting with the crowds of all kinds of people just walking, talking, and having fun at the end of the week. I really just remember the popcorn smell but I always got cotton candy. Around 1965, I started going with groups of friends and dating, always waiting to see who would get sick riding the Bobs. It was just about the best amusement park of all time to me. The feeling was like being at a large scale county fair. Since I am a native Chicago city person who has never lived in the 'burbs, I guess that says it all. Riverview was much better than the theme parks of today, and I have been to many of them."

Unfortunately for Cathy Nichin, she was too young to ride the big rides before Riverview closed in 1967.

“I was only 5. My older sisters enjoyed the Riverview rides. But I was too little to go on the rides, even though I wanted to. Aladdin’s Castle is what I remember –  with his big eyes that moved. He scared me. The ride noises, people screaming with joy and fear, the Bobs splashing down and the Pair-O-Chutes falling from the sky are my memories. I was determined to get on those rides one day! I had to settle for Great America in Gurnee when I turned 13, because Riverview closed before I was old enough to ride the rides. How lucky my older sisters were to enjoy those rides in a neighborhood close to home!”

Even for the big kids, some rides could be pretty intense. The Pair-O-Chutes, a free-falling parachute ride that dropped two people at a time, required a certain amount of bravery from its riders. George Mergen shared that, at around age 12, he and his friend summoned up the courage to go on the ride while their other friend waited. He recounted a scary story about getting stuck on the ride – though one that no doubt earned him bragging rights amongst his peers for some time.

“Up, up we went, but we didn’t come down. They tried multiple times to release the chute, which bounced us up and down on the seat repeatedly, but still no release. Soon someone announced on a megaphone to remain calm and that they were going to send someone up to release the chute manually. It took quite a while for the man to climb to the top. Then the scariest part came. He had to straddle the arm and shimmy his way out to the top of the chute. I’m telling you now as an adult, they could not have paid me enough to do that. Ultimately, he did something up there to get the chute to release and down we came. That incident did not stop us from returning for the thrill of riding the Pair-O-Chutes in the future.”

The Pair-O-Chutes ride was scary even to park workers. In the scorching summer of 1966, Kevin Garvey sometimes subbed in for his best friend working at the Snow-Cone concession at Riverview, saying he became an “expert” at making the best Snow-Cones. To beat the heat, Garvey sometimes gave the workers from the rides some of the plain ice shavings.

“So, they ‘owed us.’ One day, I was working as a thunderstorm rolled in, and the park cleared of customers. When the rain stopped, customers weren’t back yet, so it was time for us to get paid back on the ‘IOUs’ at whatever rides we wanted. I had never tried the nearby and very scary Pair-O-Chutes, so I went over to collect. They immediately strapped me in the very flimsy seat and lap strap and up I went, totally terrified – up and up. The drop was incredibly scary and memorable but I couldn’t wait to get off. But no! They didn’t even hesitate to keep working off their IOUs! They sent me up two more times in a row before I made it clear I had to get back to work. Luckily I was able to not lose my lunch and never again went on that amazingly scary (dangerous?) ride.”

Robert Tompkins remembered another very popular ride.

“The Bobs was my most favorite ride in 1959. The tracks were mostly made from wood, which made it sound like no other roller coaster.”

For others, Riverview was the location of another kind of thrill: young love. Sherri Slupski shared her memories from 1958 – and even remembers the route she took.

“Six of us girls, living in Cicero, would take the Austin Boulevard bus to Roosevelt, then continue on the Austin CTA to Belmont, then east to Western Avenue. You could stay on the roller roaster for a second turn for 5 cents. The Bobs was the best thrill – except maybe picking up a sailor at the Tunnel of Love to catch a quick kiss in the dark!”

For Mary Hess, however, the scare from the Pair-O-Chutes almost led to the end of her relationship.

“When I was engaged in 1964, my fiancé took me to Riverview and insisted that we go on the Pair-O-Chutes. When we came down, I told him that our engagement was off for scaring me to death. I recanted the next day.”

Finally, Dave Olson sent us this nice reflection. We thought we’d share most of it with you:

“In 1954, at the age of 4, I got polio, which left me permanently paralyzed and unable to walk except with crutches. Despite that, I had quite a normal childhood growing up in the Chicago suburbs. My best memory of all was the entire day I spent at Riverview Park with just my best friend Bill – no adults. We were both 10 years old, alone and in this dazzling garden of worldly delights for two suburban kids. His mom dropped us off at the front gate on Western Avenue, and I remember like it was yesterday. Our first ride, called the Roll-O-Plane, was just inside the gate. As I exited, wobbly on my crutches, I was excited as I never had been before. (The ride operators would take my crutches once I was safely strapped in, and bring them back when the ride was over.) We did not have a lot of money so we needed to carefully choose our rides – as careful as two ten year olds could be. Probably the highlight of the day was riding the Bobs. And at the end of the ride, you could choose to ride it again for a nickel. I’m not certain of the number, but I believe we rode it six or seven consecutive times…I loved it all. The Dodgem cars. The Rotor. The Shoot the Chutes (We sat in the front row to maximize the drenching). That funny ride with the motorized boats floating on big inner tubes. Aladdin’s Castle (some sections were off limits for me, understandably). As the hour approached when Bill’s mom was to pick us up, around 8:00 pm (10 hours after being dropped off), I remember some of the lights came on as the sky began to turn the dark blue of approaching dusk. It was so beautiful to me. I had a few more visits to Riverview with my parents over the years. But as with most things…the first time was the best. I grew up, and they tore down paradise. Sadly, that's kind of the way things go…I am now 74, and Bill is increasingly suffering from significant dementia. But I’m sure he will be able to relive these memories with me the next time we talk.”