Talk:Steeplechase Park

Steeplechase Park has been listed as one of the Sports and recreation good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.
Review: December 15, 2019. (Reviewed version).

A fact from Steeplechase Park appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 5 January 2020 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that after Steeplechase Park burned down in 1907, its owner offered "admission to the burning ruins" for ten cents?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2020/January. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Steeplechase Park.

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Untitled

The reference to "the Ferris Wheel" sounds odd today, since today "Ferris Wheel" is a generic term. However, at the time there was only one, so the article's use of the definite article is correct - it wasn't "a" Ferris Wheel, it was "the" Ferris Wheel. Merenta 15:39, 29 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Segregation

I removed this paragraph, entered by an anon:

The amusement park was always advertised as "George C. Tilyou's Steeplechase Park" even after Tilyou's death, and it retained his personal stamp. Tilyou had always maintained Steeplechase as a racially segregated attraction, refusing to admit any customers who were not Caucasian. This policy of segregation was deemed perfectly reasonable when the attraction first opened in 1897, but in the ensuing decades Tilyou's heirs found it increasingly difficult to justify the exclusion of non-white customers. The closure of Steeplechase came shortly after passage of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, requiring integration of all public attractions.

This is a rather remarkable charge. This is unsourced and I can find no source (including newspaper search) that says that Steeplechase ever had a policy of segregration as opposed to other public accomodation in New York City or Coney Island. I can say for a fact that there were no exclusions at the time of Steeplechase's closing, and the implication that Steeplechase closed because of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a remarkable piece of original research. -- Cecropia 06:44, 15 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Absolutely false charge

Attended the park with an older African American friend in 1956. Have a picture of her somewhere, taken at the park. There were indeed segregated amusement parks in America, as far north as Indianapolis, where the local park admitted black people only one day a year. See forthcoming book by Rodger Birt from U. of Indiana Press. But not in liberal New York City, and certainly not Steeplechase. This article already has been remarkably edited to avoid any mention of the enormous demographic changes which finally doomed not only Steeplechase but Coney Island. Profhum (talk) 15:08, 29 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Another pop reference

William Hjorstberg's "Falling Angel" refers to Steeplechase Park, and the smiling man throughout. I don't know if it should be included (but think so) E A (talk) 11:41, 15 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

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GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Steeplechase Park/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Sportsfan77777 (talk · contribs) 02:52, 14 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Lead

new rides and new amusements to Steeplechase ===>>> new rides and new amusements to the park
- Done.
Steeplechase Park was also becoming unprofitable ===>>> Steeplechase Park was becoming unprofitable
- Done.

Tilyou's early ventures

In 1876, at the age of fourteen, Tilyou sold boxes of Coney Island sand and salt water to unwitting tourists for 25 cents each, earning $13.45 in the process <<<=== re-word to make it clearer that this was his first (or one of his first?) business ventures, and not so related to his bigger investments later on (unless it was related?)
- Hopefully I clarified this. epicgenius (talk) 16:11, 14 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
After noting that the nearby Sheepshead Bay, Gravesend and Brighton Beach horse-racing tracks were very popular, Tilyou added other rides and attractions. <<<=== Were those other rides near the tracks?
- I clarified that these were part of the Coney Island peninsula in general. epicgenius (talk) 16:11, 14 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

1897–1907: Creation and early years

Thompson and Dundy elected not to keep A Trip To The Moon at Steeplechase, instead creating their own park <<<=== instead moving it to their new park?
- Done.
However, the sale of Steeplechase was annulled in February 1905 after $50,000 had been paid. <<<=== Can you explain why the sale was annulled?
- Done.
such attractions as ===>> attractions such as
- Done.

1907 fire and rebuilding

, though firefighters fought to save Tilyou's house ===>>> ; however, firefighters fought to save Tilyou's house
- Done.

1910s and 1920s

such as when the Upside-Down House burned down in 1911 ===>>> such as the Upside-Down House burning down in 1911
- Done.

1930s: Great Depression through World War II

Okay.

1940s and 1950s: downfall

an increasing proportion of Steeplechase visitors' demographics was African-American ===>>> an increasing proportion of Steeplechase visitors were African-American
- Done.
Arthur Godfrey and His Friends <<<=== should be italicized
- Done.
Marie, who had long wanted to change Steeplechase's images <<<=== just "image"?
- Done.

Demise

On September 20, 1964, Steeplechase Park closed for the last time. <<<=== either "opened for the last time" or "closed permanently"
- Basically, this park operated only seasonally, opening at the beginning of the season (in May) and closing at the end (September or October). This was the end of the 1964 season. At the time, the operators did not intend for the park to close permanently, and were actually anticipating to open it the next year, so the second wording would not work. epicgenius (talk) 16:11, 14 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
U.S. president Donald Trump ===>>> future U.S. president Donald Trump
- Done.

Trump ownership and Kaufman operation

Trump destroyed Steeplechase Park's Pavilion of Fun ===>>> Trump demolished Steeplechase Park's Pavilion of Fun
- Done.
Still, the city had finally succeeded in evicting Kaufman ===>>> Nevertheless, the city had finally succeeded in evicting Kaufman

Development as stadium

Okay.

Current status

Okay.

Overall

A lot of links are unnecessarily in ALL CAPS.
No dab links.
Well-sourced.
No plagiarism detected.
All the links work.

Well done! Not many comments, and all of them are minor. Placing on hold. Sportsfan77777 (talk) 04:34, 14 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@Sportsfan77777: Thanks for the comments. I have replied to all of these. epicgenius (talk) 16:11, 14 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Looks good, passing! Sportsfan77777 (talk) 02:37, 15 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by TheAwesome Hwyh 19:52, 31 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

(

Comment or view
Article history

)

Steeplechase Park's "Funny Face" logo

... that though Steeplechase Park was closed over half a century ago, its "Funny Face" logo (pictured) remains a symbol of Coney Island? Source: Cross, G.S. (2005). The Playful Crowd: Pleasure Places in the Twentieth Century. Columbia University Press. pp. 39–40
- ALT1:... that after Steeplechase Park burned in 1907, its owner offered "admission to the burning ruins" for ten cents? Source: Berman, J.S.; Museum of the City of New York (2003). Coney Island. p. 33
- ALT2:... that the only remaining structure from the long-defunct Steeplechase Park is the Parachute Jump, a 250-foot-tall (76 m) tower salvaged from the 1939 New York World's Fair? Source: NYC Parks "oday, the Jump is the last remnant of the original Steeplechase Park."

Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/William Francis Clarke
Comment: ~~QPQ pending.~~ I may be slow to responses because this week is finals week at my college. (Also, hence why I didn't nominate a new or 5x expanded article instead.)

Improved to Good Article status by Epicgenius (talk). Self-nominated at 02:30, 16 December 2019 (UTC).[reply]

This article is a newly promoted GA and is new enough and long enough. The hook facts are cited inline and any of the hooks could be used. The article is neutral and I detected no copyright issues. The image is in the public domain. A QPQ is needed. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 07:45, 25 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the review Cwmhiraeth. It appears that I have forgotten to remove "QPQ pending" when I did do the QPQ. epicgenius (talk) 02:09, 27 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, and I didn't notice that you had in fact done the QPQ. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 06:03, 27 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Steeplechase Pool

When did Steeplechase Pool close? 73.178.8.216 (talk) 23:06, 16 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]