Henry Boettlin was just 5 years old when he first heard about Carsonia Park and its classic carousel.
The Lower Alsace Township man, now 22, vividly remembers the day.
He and his family had just moved to a home in Pennside and Boettlin’s grandfather was helping them unpack.
“Do you know there used to be an amusement park next to your house?” his grandfather, Barry Boettlin of Pottstown, asked.
The younger Boettlin was surprised to learn the family’s home lay just yards from what had been the park’s midway.
“That just blew my mind,” he said.
The revelation piqued a lifelong fascination with the defunct amusement park and its various attractions.
“It’s just a huge passion of mine to research this park,” he said. “I love sharing the history of the park with other people.”
Built by the United Traction Company as a destination for its trolley service, Carsonia Park operated from 1896 to 1950.
Many of its rides and attractions were dismantled and sold after the end of its final season.
Still running
Boettlin was amazed to learn the merry-go-round survives in restored condition.
A focal point of the State Fair of Texas in Dallas since 1951, the grand carousel is 100 years old this year.
Boettlin and his parents, Jennifer and Shawn Boettlin, visited the attraction in Dallas this month.
“It was just amazing after all these years of researching and telling the story,” he said. “I was impressed to see a part of my local history still running in great condition.”
Boettlin marveled at the colorful horses, chariots and decorative rounding board and rim.
He also got a chance to meet Kary Barnett, carousel curator and supervisor of fair amusements.
Barnett and his team operate the classic carousel each year during the approximately three-week fair, which runs this year until Oct. 22.
The rest of the year, it remains in storage.
Under Barnett’s supervision, the carousel’s wooden carvings, plaster moldings and painted panels were systematically restored by conservators and repainted by professional artists.
“I’ve been working on the carousel for 25 years,” he said in a recent phone interview.
During the downtime, he gives the ride’s antique mechanicals, including its 15-horsepower motor, specialized maintenance.
The team also occasionally reattaches the broken legs of prancers after careless adults use the limbs to step up onto the carvings.
“But mainly its just routine maintenance and touchups now,” he said.
Just before the fair’s Sept. 29 opening, Barnett decked the carousel in multicolored ribbons, giving it an even more festive look for the ride’s landmark anniversary.
To help mark the occasion, he said, the fair’s management distributed numerous complimentary passes for the attraction, which costs $7 to ride.
About 80,000 people typically take a spin on the merry-go-round over the fair’s 24 days. But Barnett expects more than usual this year due to the media attention given to the antique, custom built by the Dentzel Carousel Company.
The history
The factory in the Germantown section of Philadelphia was founded by German-immigrant Gustav Dentzel, who began producing carousels for sale in 1867.
After Gustav’s death in 1908, his sons, William and Edward, took over the factory. Under William’s leadership, the company’s carousel building was elevated to its highest level.
William hired Italian and German immigrant carvers, who gave the factory’s carved horses a highly decorated, but lively and lifelike appearance that enables collectors and experts to immediately identify them.
Dentzel also used plaster-moldings, featuring a distinctive jester-head design to hide the overhead drive mechanism on his carousels.
Barnett used fiberglass to painstakingly reproduce the crumbling plaster ornaments on the state fair carousel.
One of his recreations was presented to local historian George M. Meiser IX, who treasures it as a reminder of his happy childhood days spent riding the carousel and other attractions at Carsonia Park.
Meiser extensively researched the park for the Passing Scene series of volumes on local history, coauthored with his wife, Gloria Jean Meiser.
He concluded the carousel was bought when the park came under new management in 1923.
That year, Carsonia underwent widespread rebuilding and improvements in time for the Memorial Day grand reopening, Meiser said, and several new attractions were advertised.
Barnett concurs, noting a fair worker discovered a 1922 newspaper behind one of the carousel’s mirrors while making some repairs.
“I am just absolutely amazed by how well the carousel is taken care of,” Boettlin said. “I’m really happy to see it in such great condition.”
For more information about and photographs of the State Fair of Texas carousel, visit the National Carousel Association’s website or the Berks History Center’s website.
Source: Berkshire mont
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