Historic Pelham: World's First Theme Park that Became World's Largest and Busiest Amusement Park Once Operated Off Pelham Shores

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Few Pelhamites know that the world's first theme park once operated immediately off the shores of Pelham. Even fewer can fathom that for a long time in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the amusement park was the busiest in the world. Indeed, only six years after the amusement park opened in 1879, more than one million visitors a year visited the attraction.

The park was Starin's Glen Island, owned and operated by John H. Starin. Today one can stand behind the New York Athletic Club facility on Travers Island or at the tip of Shore Park in the Village of Pelham Manor and nearly throw a rock onto Glen Island. It is only a few hundred feet away. I have written about Starin's Glen Island, known as "Pelham's Playground," before. See:

Fri., Sep. 25, 2009: Pelham's Playground: John H. Starin Develops Starin's Glen Island in 1879.

Tue., Feb. 11, 2014: An 1881 Account of What it Was Like to Visit Starin's Glen Island Resort Off the Shores of New Rochelle and Pelham.

Wed., Jun. 11, 2014: Buried Treasure Off the Shores of Pelham: The Legend of Pirate's Treasure.

Mon., May 01, 2006: The Legend of the Recovery of Pirate's Treasure on an Island Off Pelham.

During the late 1870s, John H. Starin acquired and developed "Locust Island" just off the coast of New Rochelle, Travers Island, and the Town of Pelham. He renamed the island "Starin's Glen Island" and built the world's most successful amusement park up to that time. The park opened to the public in 1881 and immediately attracted thousands of visitors each day. Starin operated a fleet of steamboats that brought a large portion of the visitors to Glen Island each year. By its sixth year of operation, more than a million visitors a year visited the amusement park.

John Henry Starin was a shipping magnate, trained physician, and at about the time he began developing Starin's Glen Island, he became a United States Congressman. He served in the Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1877 - March 3, 1881). For more about Starin, see "John H. Starin" in Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia (visited Jun. 8, 2016).

Starin's Glen Island became Pelham's playground as well. Pelham residents had but a short walk or carriage ride along today's Shore Road into New Rochelle where they could turn toward the shore to a mainland dock from which a chain ferry could carry them the short distance to the island.

Today's Historic Pelham Blog posting provides more on the history of Starin's Glen Island and includes a host of images that can help us understand the history of the park.

1890 Trade Card Advertising Starin's Glen Island, Obverse.

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

1890 Trade Card Advertising Starin's Glen Island, Obverse.

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

Starin's Glen Island was an amazing attraction in its day. Starin acquired small islands and rocky outcroppings near his new Glen Island and improved them, attaching many to the main island by causeways. (See images immediately below.)

Undated Postcard View, Ca. 1910, of "Glen Island Long

Island Sound, N. Y." NOTE: Click Image to Enlarge.

1910 Postcard View of "GLEN ISLAND. Long Island Sound, N.Y."

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

Detail from 1910 Map by G. W. Bromley of Pelham and New

Rochelle Showing Glen Island and its Various Structures.

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

The original design of the park showcased five cultures of the western world. For example, one portion of the park was called "Little Germany" and had its own castle as the image below depicts.

Post Card View of "The Castle, Little Germany, Glen Island, N.Y."

Postmarked on May 22, 1913. NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

Circa 1915 View of the "Old Mill, Glen Island, N.Y."

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

Post Card View of "The Castle, Little Germany Glen Island, N.Y."

Obverse. Postmarked July 12, 1913. NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

Post Card View of "The Castle, Little Germany Glen Island, N.Y."

Reverse. Postmarked July 12, 1913. NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

According to one description of Starin's Glen Island:

"The walkways along the harbor were lined with colorful flowers, classic bronze statues, and a natural spring that provided cool fresh water. Winding pathways led visitors through landscaped grounds where they could escape the summer heat under groves of shade trees. Included among its attractions were musical entertainment and performance bandstands, a camera obscura, a 'Grand Cafe', aviary, greenhouses, stone castles, a Dutch mill and a Chinese pagoda. A chain ferry transported visitors from a mainland dock on Neptune Island. There was also a nationally recognized Museum of Natural History which housed mummies from 332 B.C., Native American relics of the Stone Age and other rare antiquities, along with the first fire engine used in New York state, several meteors and a giant stuffed white whale. There were bathing beaches and pavilions which could accommodate eight hundred people, bridle paths, a miniature steam train and a zoo of exotic animals which included monkeys, lions, elephants and trained seals. The island's main attraction was a re-created German castle modeled after an ancient Rhine fortress. The arched entrance was broad enough to admit a coach into the courtyard leading to the great hall. In the great hall was the "Little Germany" (Klein Deutschland) beer garden where food and beer were served by waiters in Tyrolean dress."

Source: "Starin's Glen Island" in Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia (visited Jun. 8, 2016).

1914 Post Card View of "Bathing Beach. Glen Island, N.Y."

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

With the burning of one of Starin's steamships, the General Slocum, in Hellgate waters with a loss of 1,000 lives in 1904, attendance at Starin's Glen Island began to wane. John Starin died in 1909 and management of the park passed to others. The park became unprofitable and was closed, sitting for more than a decade nearly untouched, although the bathing houses and a mansion on the island used by Starin as his summer home burned.

Undated Color Trade Card for Starin's Glen Island, Obverse.

Undated Color Trade Card for Starin's Glen Island, Reverse.

In 1924, the Westchester County Park Commission acquired the island. Extensive landfill joined the main island with the four surrounding islands to create Glen Island Park, essentially as we know it today.