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