August 16th is National Roller Coaster Day, in commemoration of the issuance of the first U.S. patent for a vertical loop roller coaster, issued to Edwin Prescott on this day in 1898. Prescott’s Loop the Loop coaster was a dual-tracked steel roller coaster installed at Coney Island, New York from 1901 to 1910.
Hagley Library is observing the day with these selections from Edward C. Boyce’s Modern Amusement Parks, a circa 1905 publication showing rides and attractions (including these roller coasters!) at the White City in Chicago, Dreamland in Coney Island, the White City in New Haven, Connecticut, and other locations and attractions constructed by the Edward C. Boyce Co.
This pamphlet is f Pam 2001.207 in the Hagley Library’s collection of trade catalogs and pamphlets. You can view other digitized material from this collection by visiting its page in our Digital Archives, or view this pamphlet in particular by clicking here.
