Williams Grove Amusement Park

Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, USA

1850 to 2005

See Photos Gallery Thumbnails Memorabilia Internal Links

Williams Grove was a beautiful, traditional park in a hard to find locale near Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Beginning as a picnic grove on the banks of the Yellow Breeches Creek in 1850, and adding rides in 1928, the park seemed to channel the past. Shaded by mature hardwood trees, patrons could stroll the grounds, or ride a great variety of rides, including an antique carousel, a 1933 wood roller coaster, and a funhouse with one of the last walk-through rotating barrels in America.

On a very sad day in the Amusement Park Industry, September 18, 2007, Norton Auctioneers held an auction of Williams Grove Amusement Park's rides.

Pete, ATRA Historian, attended the auction with a tear in his eye.

From Pete:

"Williams Grove will be missed very much! I visited the park many times each year. Of the 799 roller coasters that I have ridden, The Cyclone was the scariest roller coaster ever!!! I never saw a line on the Cyclone like the one in this photo! [Editors note: photo was taken during the ACE Exclusive Park Time, ACE Coaster Con XXIV, 2001]

"The last few times Rick and I were there, we had to walk around the park and ask people to ride the Cyclone with us. They would only run it with 6 adults because it got stuck. Rusty and I were on it when it got stuck and rolled back to the lift. The chain hit the train and pushed us forward enough to go down the first drop."

From Uncle Duke:

"When we first rode the cyclone in 2000 the operator (and we had to find him) told us we might get stuck on the brake. We told him we'd push. We got in and he sent us off...and it was the scariest coaster ever! There seemed to be less wood than any woodie we'd been on before.

"We make it back to the station, and we want another ride. At that point 2 little kids come into the station. We get in the back, and the Op doesn't take our tickets. We come back in, and we go to leave, but the kids want to go again...

"And that's how we got three rides for the price of one. We still have the unused tickets."