| Giant Skyrocket | |||||||||||||
| Location: | Playland Park | ||||||||||||
| Type: | Wood | ||||||||||||
| Status: | Removed | ||||||||||||
| Manufacturer: | Lake Contrary Amusement Park | ||||||||||||
| Designer: | Audley Ingersoll | ||||||||||||
| Height Ft: | 110 | ||||||||||||
| Drop Ft: | 90 | ||||||||||||
| Length Ft: | 6,600 | ||||||||||||
| Rcdb Number: | 11391 | ||||||||||||
| Extend: |
| ||||||||||||
Giant Skyrocket was a wooden roller coaster designed and built by Audley Ingersoll in 1924 for the now defunct Luna Park in Houston, Texas.[1] The roller coaster was significant for a variety of reasons. It was one of the largest roller coasters ever built and was Houston's first major roller coaster. It was later relocated to Houston's Playland Park with involvement by John A. Miller and H. S. Smith before ultimately being closed in the early 1960s.
The roller coaster was designed and fabricated at Lake Contrary Amusement Park in 1924 in St. Joseph, Missouri by Ingersoll before being shipped to Houston for assembly and construction.
It was an "in and out" design, with a long flat stretch after leaving the station until the first lift hill. It had a height of 110 feet and a 90 foot drop, with pictures suggesting an exceedingly steep angle. It continued through three more hills until turning approximately 90 degrees left and following a series of hills and turns before returning to the station, forming an "L" layout. The length was stated to be "a mile and a quarter," or 6,600 feet. At the time of its opening it was reportedly the largest roller coaster in the United States.
1924 - 1930s
While Luna Park was originally scheduled to open in May 1924, a storm damaged the park, including the roller coaster, which was still under construction at the time. After further construction delays, Giant Skyrocket opened to the public on June 28, 1924, 3 days after the park itself had opened. The cost of construction was reported to be $75,000.[2] The roller coaster operated until the park closed in the early 1930s.
1941 - 1963
Playland Park opened in the early 1940s. Sometime in 1941, Playland Park undertook the project to relocate the nearby roller coaster to the park. It is known that John A. Miller, a notable roller coaster designer, died in Houston in 1941 while working on this project. Playland credited H. S. Smith for the coaster's reconstruction. Period photographs show the Playland Park coaster to not have retained the full coaster from Luna Park, as it was seemingly modified and shortened.
The roller coaster opened on September 5, 1941. It was advertised as the "largest roller coaster in the South." Playland appears to have only referred to it as "Giant Roller Coaster."[3] [4] However, park guests generally continued to refer to it as "The Skyrocket".
While the park remained open until 1967, the roller coaster ceased operations sometime between 1962 and 1964. By 1964, it was partially removed to make room for a new commercial building. By 1973, only an empty lot remained where it once stood.
In October 1924, two passengers were killed from a fall from the coaster. In 1962, a passenger fell and was seriously injured.[5]
By 1964, the roller coaster had been partially removed at the turn hill. This portion of land had been sold by Playland Park and a new commercial building was constructed at what would become 2525 Murworth Drive. By 1973, the entire coaster was gone.
Built during the original Golden Era of wooden coaster design, Giant Skyrocket is one of the few that survived well beyond the Great Depression, albeit in a shortened form at a new location.