Blast from the past

Published June 13, 2015

First roller coaster opens in America

June 16, 1884

ON this day, the first roller coaster in America opens at Coney Island, in Brooklyn, New York. Known as a switchback railway; it was the brainchild of LaMarcus Thompson. It travelled approximately six miles per hour and cost a nickel to ride. The new entertainment was an instant success and by the turn of the century there were hundreds of roller coasters around the country.

Coney Island, a name believed to have come from the Dutch Konijn Eilandt, or Rabbit Island, is a tract of land along the Atlantic Ocean discovered by explorer Henry Hudson in 1609.

Sources: www.history.com

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