WONDERFUL WASHINGTON PARK
BY
EDITH HOELLE

        A few Gloucester County residents can still recall the good old summertime of their youth here in Gloucester County, in the early 20th century.  Recreation was coming into its own with the horse and buggy rides, picnics, church socials, and "wonderful Washington Park!"

        Washington Park!  Even the name conjures up visions of twirling, whirling carousels and Gibson Girl fashions; of John Philip Sousa, erect and immaculately gloved in the podium and Sunday afternoon outings; of twinkling lights from the river boats "Sylvan Dell" and "Sylvan Glen" reflected on the water; of that wonderful aroma of mother's fried chicken, chocolate cake and bottles of home-made root beer.

        This famous summer resort and park sprawled along the Delaware River between Westville and National Park.  It was one of the many enterprises owned by William J. Thompson, the poor Irish boy who came to America to make a fortune - and succeeded in making many!

        "Billy" Thompson's first success concerned the planked shad dinners he served at his hotel in Gloucester.  The fish was split and wired to a broad smooth plank or board, placed before a hot fire and basted with butter frequently.  The fame of Thompson's planked shad spread quickly and soon men of wealth and prominence came from all over the East to taste this fresh, especially prepared shad.  Jay Gould's private railroad car stood more than once on a siding as he and friends came to Gloucester for planked shad dinners.

        Thompson's next enterprise was the Gloucester Race Track, opened in 1890.  For three years the Gloucester Race Track, opened in 1890.  For three years this was one of the best tracks in the country, running races every day in the year except Sunday.

        By the time legislation closed the track in the autumn of 1893, the "Duke of Gloucester" had already purchased 600 acres of land along the Delaware River and had begun converting the land for use as a summer park and recreation area.

        "Washington Park on the Delaware" opened on Decoration Day 1895 and for the next two decades was one of the largest amusement parks and resort areas in the United States.

        Money was no object with Thompson.  He invested more than $1,000,000 to build an eight-mile trolley road to Woodbury, with spurs to Almonesson and Mantua.  Music for the two band pavilions and guest artists and conductors cost as high as $50,000 a season.

        Arthur Pryor, John Philip Sousa, Liberatti, and Victor Hubert were some of the top names who appeared frequently at the park.  Sousa stayed at the Paul Hotel during his converts and Victor Herbert rented at the Presbyterian Manse on Euclid Street, Woodbury, for himself and his family.

        Victor Herbert's bandsmen stayed at Mrs. Prehl's Boarding House, 28 Cooper Street, now offices of attorneys.  The late James M. Robertson once told me that as a boy he would often see the men in the band sitting around on Mrs. Prehl's wide porch, in the striped shirts, with high collars and arm bands on their sleeves - waiting for the call to supper.

        Probably the most fabulous of all the attractions at the park was the spectacular electric fountain, built at a cost of $75,000 and the first electric fountain ever seen in this part of the country.  In the center of the swaying dancing streams of water was a high glass box, actually a stage under glass, where actors and actresses would portray famous scenes from history.  The stage was housed underground, as were the dressing rooms, a mammoth elevator raised the glass box in the center of the fountain display to a height where all could see, then lowered it underground for a change of scene.  Three to four different scenes were staged every evening with multi-colored lighting changing the sparkling fountains to a fairyland of dripping color.

        According to the late Albert J. Corcoran, the water never seemed to blur the scenes.  Some of the fountains of water went very high and seemed to accentuate the scenes rather than detract from them.  He particularly recalled the portrayal of Washington crossing the Delaware.  The glass box was large enough for an actual boat and with the streams of water and colored lighting everywhere, it gave the illusion that the boat was moving.

        Each night there were different scenes which seemed to rise out of nowhere in the midst of the fountains and just as magically disappear.  Lovely lawn and gardens of flowers surrounded the fountain the fountain area making it an attraction during daylight hours also.

        The large area the park covered and its diverse amusements accounted for the daily attendance of thousands of people.  The day William Jennings Bryan of "Cross of Gold" fame visited the park, over 100,000 jammed the resort area to hear him.

        The world's largest Ferris wheel, which stood over 100 feet high, could carry 100 persons at one time.  Gravity roads (roller coasters) were scattered in four different areas in the park.  The Shoot-the-Chute featured boats carrying twelve passengers down a greased chute, landing in a lake with a tremendous splash and shrieks of laughter.  (Shades of "Great Adventure" a century ago!)

        Thompson built a special 1800 - foot pier into the Delaware Rover to accommodate the thousands who poured into Washington Park from Philadelphia and eastern Pennsylvania.  The end of the pier was such a distance from the center of the park that he built an aerial gravity road and trolley line from the park to the end of the pier to facilitate transportation.

        The hub of the park was the old Howell Mansion, the residence of the Howell family of Fancy Hill for many years.  The mansion contained a cafe and restaurant.  The second-floor dining room overlooked the two-story band pavilion which seated approximately 1,000 persons.

        The park was handsomely landscaped and the mid-way, which was made of cobblestones, was replete with amusements of every kind.  Balloon ascensions, firework displays, and bicycle races were special attractions for the farmers' annual picnics and the several merry-go-rounds in the park were always enjoyed by young and old alike.

        In 1909 fire destroyed most of the park.  Thompson rebuilt parts of it, but a second disastrous blaze in 1913 saw the demise of the famous recreation area.  It was never rebuilt.  During World War I, the Woodbury Bag Loading Plant, which packaged powder for the army, was located on the site.  Today (1982) Texaco's Eagle Point Refinery in West Deptford marks the park location.

        My friend of years gone by with the fine memory, Jim Robertson, once reminisced that often he and neighborhood boys would climb to the top of the barn on the old Barber property (now the Low-Cowan House on the southwest corner of Delaware and Horace Streets, Woodbury) and catch pigeons.  They sold the pigeons for 25 cents a pair, and off to Washington Park they'd go!

        The trolley fare to and from the park was five cents each way.  Another five cents would be spent on a "gravity road," or similar amusements.  That left one nickel for a huge schooner of ice cold milk and the last nickel for a hot juicy roast beef sandwich, just sliced off a carcass which had been slowly turning on a split over a fire of coals for two days.  That was summer fun, 1900 style, all twenty-five cents worth at wonderful Washington Park!