Dreamland was built solely to compete and outrun Luna Park. Dreamland’s founder, William Reynolds, spared no expense upon the park’s design, expansion, and features. He copyrighted rights to most outstanding rides at world fairs, he offered renowned Broadway stars a cut of peanut and popcorn sales if they agreed to walk around the park all day, and even bought out some of Luna Park’s performers. Just months after Luna Park’s creation, Dreamland—or as it is originally known as, Wonderland—was set out to defeat Luna Park, amid the hype and the craze of amusement parks.
William H. Reynolds was a Brooklyn real estate businessman, who noticed real estate in Coney Island rapidly appreciating and went after it. Or rather, he went after the cause of this appreciation: amusement parks.
Conveniently, Reynolds was politically connected. Some say this helped lead to the specific timing of an auction of a plot of land in West Brighton, as land was the biggest issue—there simply was not enough of it. Steeplechase and Luna Park already had most of it. What was left were two plots, however disconnected by a main public street. After some clever bidding, of which Reynolds secretly had people bidding for him, Reynolds purchased both plots. Reynolds was a man with a plan, big plans, as he reported he will provide the newest attractions, ocean bathing facilities, the world’s greatest Shoot the Chutes—extending 500 feet into the ocean, and light. Many, many lights. And to supply this electricity, as the cost would be terribly large, he was to open his open power plant right on the site, to compete with Edison’s Electric. He gained many investors, from local business shop owners to powerful politicians and journalists. All this would come to help him solve the West 8th Street issue.
How was I resolved? The simply shut it down. At a meeting on the last day of the Coney Island season, the Board met and agreed that another park would be beneficially for the moral character of Coney Island. They also agreed that this part of West 8th has never really been super active. Here again Reynolds’s political strings help him out. The Board either handed Reynolds the piece of land for free, or ceded use. Regardless, the issue of West 8th Street was no longer there.
Despite the Panic of 1903, where loans and investors alike were hard to come by, due to Luna Park anything having to do with amusement parks seemed a sure bet, so investing was irresistible. The architecture firm of Kirby, Petit & Green designed Dreamland based off of the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, with a segment of it neoclassical looking and relatively boring for guests, versus a livelier segment, the attractions. The white city and midway to lively city was called ‘Midway in White City.’ Many of Dreamland’s attractions involved simulated travels of foreign countries, including famous places, palaces, landmarks. The result? Extreme elegance.
Construction was done in 24-hour cycles with 500 men each shift. These workers were not union crews, as that would not permit the construction to be done in time. Of course, Reynolds’s political backing gave the OK. The workers also were not paid for national holidays, like Washington’s birthday, so the day after hundreds of workers quit. So hundreds of workers Reynolds replaced. This would not prove to be super effective later on, as finding skilled workers in Coney Island was not an easy feat. And Reynolds’s word about creating his own electrical company was a complete bluff, as he even signed the heftiest contract with Edison Electric probably ever. He was planning on using more electricity than the entire Coney Island I the previous year, including Luna Park. To accommodate such measures, Edison Electric not only made modifications to their own plant but added a miniature plant in the park itself.
Reasons for people to come to Dreamland as opposed to Luna Park would not only be because Dreamland simply improved Luna’s attractions, making them bigger and grander. But Reynolds actually hired Sam Gumpertz, a well-known showman, to orchestrate entertainment. Gumpertz noticed people like watching unusual people, places, and things. And so, Midget City was born.
Dreamland was in some serious debt. Not only that, but it would not be able to pay off this debt by the end of the first season as Luna Park had. For not only were costs for opening season not covered, but Dreamland would then have to borrow more money to upgrade and improve for the upcoming season. And it was impossible to make up all this money from revenue, because even if Dreamland took every single person away from Luna Park and drew them to their own park, Dreamland’s debts would still exceed all that incoming money. Investors would have to expect their money returned at a much less and slower pace than Luna’s. Not to mention the annual interest payments Dreamland would also have to face.
“All in all, Dreamland’s strategy and its very survival centered on whether it could deliver an early-stage knock-out blow to Luna Park. As opening day approached, Reynolds sat on one side of Surf Avenue, and Thompson and Dundy on the other, both watching each other’s parks with nervous anticipation, bracing for the inevitable showdown” (heartofconeyisland.com).
Opening Day: May 14, 1904. Despite the thick fog, Dreamland received glowing reviews, especially from the ballroom and Midget City. Dreamland’s four entrances, two facing Surf Avenue and two for steamship passengers, made transportation both by railroad and by steamship possible.
Spending wars between the three parks were at a high during the 1904 season. George Tilyou was forced to upgrade his outdated park and include more lights, improve his gardens, and add new heights to his rides. Thompson and Dundy did the same, and renamed their slogan to ‘The Heart of Coney Island.’ Dreamland spent $500,000 on renovations, a massive sum of money. Much of it went to a successful attraction at the St. Louis Fair which Reynold called Creation. It was a simulation that showed how the world was created in six days, ending with the confrontation of Adam and Eve. The construction including featuring a naked woman advertising the ride, which at a time where woman had to dress modestly, had parents shielding their kids’ eyes and had police get involved. Ironically, religious groups turned the police around saying partial nudity was OK.
Throughout the park wars, Dreamland sought to finally pull ahead of Luna Park, as there was no certain winner. They added another religious attraction, featuring Earth colliding with the sun to include the “fire-and-brimstone” group, which did receive terrific reviews as well. However throughout the years of 1905-10, the war trailed on. But by 1911, Reynolds finally realized the people mainly preferred Luna Park. And what’s more is that Dreamland has not made a single cent single opening day, Reynolds confessed in a testimony.
The year 1911 was when Reynolds tried to take care of his bankruptcy while still holding onto his land. He gave Gumpertz total operating control of Dreamland, of which Gumpertz immediately began to integrate his new plan for the 1911 season. Though neither this nor Reynolds’s secret plans to make money off the park mattered, as Dreamland was set ablaze during construction for the following season.
Early morning of May 27, 1911, workers accidentally overturned a bucket of hot tar while repairing a few leaks of the ride Hell Gate. Without light to see, soon the entire building caught fire. The water system in Dreamland was extremely well pressurized and updated, and was tested regularly, so there was no reason the fire should have persisted. However, it is possible neighboring parks and businesses heard the alarms and hosed down their own places as a precaution, taking away from the water pressure at Dreamland. The weak pressure at Dreamland left the firefighters confused, and more than half of the park was charred. Between the workers already there, those sleeping there, and animals kept, extreme chaos ensued. A borough-wide fire alarm was blared, but firefighters were not getting there in time. At the last minute, the winds changed direction favorably. By then it was too late; Dreamland was now nothing more than Ash Land.
The fire affected many Dreamland concessionaries financially, such as the animal trainer, the carousel figure carver, and more favorably for neighboring parks. George Tilyou realized he was the only one not affected, so he signed a contract allowing the Iron Steamship Company to use his pier for the remainder of the season. While Luna Park did profit considerably after Dreamland’s fire, it was not enough to save Thompson and his reckless spending; he declared personal bankruptcy in 1912. Ultimately, Reynolds’s strategy cost Luna and Dreamland’s foreclosure, challenging both to a competition neither could win. Only Tilyou’s Steeplechase survived, the one that settled for third place while the other two fought it out.
But despite it all, Dreamland’s legacy lives on.
