On this day in New York · June 26, 1927
The Cyclone Opens on Coney Island
A wooden roller coaster with a 58-degree first drop opened on Surf Avenue and immediately became the ride every other roller coaster on earth gets measured against.
The facts
- Opened
- June 26, 1927, at Luna Park, Coney Island
- Cost to build
- Reportedly $146,000 to $175,000
- Speed and drop
- 60 mph, with a first drop at a 58.1-degree angle
- Opening-day fare
- 25 cents on weekdays, 35 cents on Sundays and holidays
The Cyclone opened to the public at Luna Park in Coney Island, Brooklyn on June 26, 1927. Brothers Jack and Irving Rosenthal put up the money and hired Vernon Keenan, one of the era's top coaster designers, to build it, with Harry C. Baker supervising construction using steel from the National Bridge Company and lumber from Cross, Austin, and Ireland. The finished ride cost somewhere between $146,000 and $175,000, hit 60 miles an hour on 2,640 feet of track, and charged riders a quarter on weekdays and 35 cents on Sundays and holidays. It was built to be the fastest, steepest thing on the boardwalk, and for decades it was exactly that.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
-
greater than flying an airplane at top speed
Charles Lindbergh, reportedly describing a ride on the Cyclone a couple of years after it opened
Source: Wikipedia
Why it still matters
The Cyclone became a National Register landmark and a New York City landmark, and it is still running today under Luna Park, on land the city's Parks Department owns. Nearly a century later, it is still the ride New Yorkers drag out-of-towners to on a first trip to Coney Island.
Sources
Get the day it happened, the day it happens.
Every morning brief ends with this day in New York history, and every day adds a page to this almanac. Free, in your inbox.
Free to start. The unsubscribe link actually works.