Pittsburgh

Alanson Wood | Inventor of the Roller Coaster

The featured image above is courtesy of the Jim Abbate Collection. Alanson Wood was an inventor who was born in the State of New York in 1829. He married Lovinia H. Wood (her maiden name is unknown), born in 1830, and had one child, a daughter named Lucy. Roller Skates and the Circular Gravity Railway …

Alanson Wood | Inventor of the Roller Coaster Read More »

Pittsburgh’s first roller coaster

The City of Pittsburgh got its first roller coaster in 1885, at the Penn Incline Resort. This was not only Pittsburgh’s first roller coaster, it was one of the first three roller coasters constructed in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The first roller coaster constructed in Pennsylvania, The Roller Coaster, appears to have operated in Philadelphia …

Pittsburgh’s first roller coaster Read More »

Schenley Park Pleasure Railway in Pittsburgh | 1894 – 1897

On April 24, 1894, the Schenley Park Pleasure Railway Company announced that a roller coaster was being built near the entrance of Schenley Park, on Forbes Street, opposite the Carnegie library. The roller coaster was constructed inside a two story building that included a restaurant and a dessert bar, as well as a barber and a …

Schenley Park Pleasure Railway in Pittsburgh | 1894 – 1897 Read More »

Pittsburgh Exposition roller coasters

The Greater Pittsburgh Exposition was an annual event which occurred in the fall of each year between 1889 and 1916. The exposition was located where Point State Park and PNC Park are in Pittsburgh today. The grounds were spread between downtown Pittsburgh and the city of Allegheny (today the North Shore). Twin Gravity Railway (1895 – …

Pittsburgh Exposition roller coasters Read More »