History of Alameda Park sparks memories
Longtime Connoquenessing resident Evelyn Hockenberry used to roller skate at Alameda Park back when it was still an amusement park.
Some of the memories of the park — which had a Ferris wheel, carousel, pool, performers and even a roller coaster at one point between 1901 and 1943 — came back to her during an educational talk by local historian Bill May Thursday evening.
“There are a lot of things I remember that are no longer here,” Hockenberry said. “To me, it's so interesting to hear.”May said he has been doing historical talks about the Butler area for more than a decade, and the free one he did Thursday on the history of Alameda Park filled the Carousel Shelter at the park with listeners.May told the crowd about the inception of an amusement-style park at Alameda, named by resident Marie Kelley after the Spanish word for a tree-lined avenue, and some of the attractions it boasted over the years.He said he wants to keep the memory of old Butler alive.“What I really hope is that people know what rich history the area of Butler has,” May said after the talk.Additionally, May said some of the amusement park innovations at Alameda paved the way for other parks such as Kennywood and Idlewild.May said some people come to his talks who were alive during the time period being discussed. While the number has been decreasing in recent years, he said he still enjoys hearing memories from other people, and sometimes incorporates them into his talks.Bill and Mary Kay Neely attended the talk Thursday, and Bill Neely said he was not alive during the park's heyday, but hearing about it fascinated him.“I'm amazed at what a different town Butler was,” Bill Neely said. “To learn Butler had this classy place and that it was in front of its time is really amazing.”Bill Neely was also impressed at the extent of history covered.“He does a lot of research; he really knows his history,” he said of May.May's talk ended with the official closing of Alameda Park in 1943, when it was bought out by Butler County and turned into a more traditional park.Throughout his talk, May pointed to sites in the park where some of the old attractions would have been located, as a reminder of what used to be.“When they come to the carousel, they're coming to the site of an actual carousel that used to be here,” May said. “People don't know what they had in their hometown.”
