Building of the Day: Boardwalk at 16th St.

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Parachute Jump ride
Address: Boardwalk at 16th Street
Cross Streets: In between Surf Avenue, Riegelmann Boardwalk, 16th and 17th Streets
Neighborhood: Coney Island
Year Built: 1939
Architectural Style: N/A
Architect: Invented by Commander James E. Strong, Engineered by Elwyn E. Seelye & Co.
Landmarked: Yes, Individually landmarked in 1989.

The story: When I first started collecting books about Brooklyn, it used to annoy me no end that much of my reading and research seemed to take the position that you got off the Brooklyn Bridge and there was the Coney Island of the Past. There seemed to be the implication that aside from the Bridge, Coney Island and the Dodgers, there really wasn’t all that much else to write about. I had to go to Coney Island a couple of times, and really get into the history, as well as present day state of the place, to grow to appreciate the meeting of real estate, history, society and nostalgia that is Coney Island. I get it now, although there certainly is much more to Brooklyn. Still, you can’t go there without seeing the iconic Parachute Jump towering over the Boardwalk. And it’s not even all that old!

Coney Island was in perhaps in its third incarnation of a complicated entertainment lifeline when the 1939-40 World’s Fair took place in Flushing Meadows. The old amusement parks, begun in the late 1890’s, contributed in making Coney Island the entertainment capital of the world, giving us Steeplechase Park, Luna Park and Dreamland. George Tilyou, Jr. was the son of the Steeplechase Park’s founder, George Cornelius Tilyou, and it was he who brought the Parachute Drop to his Steeplechase Park, after its run at the World’s Fair.

The Parachute Drop was the brainchild of U.S. Navy Commander James E. Strong, who had invented a tower to aid in training military parachutists in the 1930’s. His version had only one arm, but had cables that held the chute open to glide the trainee down to the ground. He built one on his property to test, and it became an attraction that everyone who saw it wanted to try, and in 1936, the design for an amusement park version with two arms was built for Chicago’s Riverside Amusement Park. It was called a “Pair-o-Chutes.” Its success was its recommendation for the NY World’s Fair. By this time, the version of the jump at the Fair was the present day structure we see today.

It had double seats so that couples could sit together, and 12 permanently spread parachutes, 32’ in diameter. The tower was 250’ feet high and the passengers were guided down by wires, with shock absorbers built in to cushion impact on the ground. The structure was built by Elwyn E. Seelye & Co., an engineering firm, and made out of Bethlehem steel. After the Fair’s run, the tower came to Coney, the move engineered by architect Michael Mario and engineer Edwin W. Kleinart. It was a tremendous success, especially in the years of World War II, when servicemen would take their wives and girlfriends on the ride. It took about a minute to rise up to the top, and the drop took only eleven or fifteen seconds, depending on the wind. The lower, enclosed floors of the tower were used for ticket sales and boarding, and the entire structure was originally lit with lights.

In 1964, George Tilyou, Jr. died and the family sold Steeplechase Park to developer Fred Trump. His intention was to build a high rise apartment building. He allowed the Parachute Jump to remain open until 1968. In 1969, the city took title to the site, and planned to condemn everything. The ride was put up for auction, and when no one bought it, it was slated for demolition. A dedicated band of preservationists from the Coney Island Chamber of Commerce and the Gravesend Historical Society were instrumental in having the Jump calendared for landmarking, but the bid was rejected in 1977 by the Board of Estimate. It was re-submitted in 1989, and finally approved. Its fate is unknown, as several developers have talked about including it in future plans for amusement parks, but for now, it still stands unused, but tall. The Parachute Jump and the sea, iconic reminders of both change and permanence. GMAP