This has nothing to do with railway preservation as such, but it's an amusing picture of life in the good old days. In the wall of the 1268, Tim found a crumpled-up copy of a multi-page guidebook put out by Luna Park, sometime between 1906 and 1909. This was an amusement park located on the southwest side at 50th and Halsted. It lasted only until 1911. I think there were several of these parks in the city in the old days, but Riverview was the only one that survived into the modern era.
The following description of the park is priceless. I'd like to see the "Human Roulette Wheel" or "Shooting Niagara" in operation. They also had a miniature railroad, moving pictures, and flying airships!
"A trip through Luna Park is equivalent to a liberal education." I'm not so sure about that....
They did have frequent band and orchestra concerts, with an impressive variety of popular and classical music of all sorts. The guidebook includes lots of ads, mostly for liquor and cigars, it would seem:
There are two types of cigars: 5 cent and 10 cent.
Want to recuperate? Take the Monon Route to French Lick and West Baden. Hey, I've been there!
Of course, to get to Luna Park you'll want to take the streetcar. The Surface Lines run everywhere!
You don't want just any old bourbon. Get it from Mr. Fox:
Ask the waiter!
Anyway, once Main Street gets built, we should start putting in a human roulette wheel and flying airships at Electric Park. It'll be a sensation! Minus the bourbon and cigars, presumably....
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