Minetown was a themed area that existed in Hersheypark from 1990 to 2014.
History of Minetown
This area was a combination of the Contemporary named area and the Tower Plaza themed area, along with the originally planned area for Minetown – the area around Coal Cracker and the Sky Ride Minetown station (removed after the 1991 season).
The new theme area included the addition of three kiddie rides (Convoy, Dinosaur-Go-Round, and Red Baron) replacing what had been the Coal Shaker, and the replacement of Himalaya in favor of the Flying Falcon. The penny arcade, the oldest building in Hersheypark dating back to 1905, was unable to be renovated and so was torn down and replaced by a larger arcade and restaurant building.
In 1998, Great Bear was added to the Minetown area, with the station located partially where the Sky Ride station had been. The area was minorly improved aside from that, the only exception being the Dinosaur-Go-Round was relocated to Founder’s Circle to accommodate the relocation of Frog Hopper from Midway America, in 2006.
In 2014, the park rethemed Minetown as Kissing Tower Hill, reviving the Tower Plaza theme with a nod to the Kissing Tower itself.
Planning Minetown
Minetown was first proposed by R. Duell and Associates (RDA) in 1971. It was one of several different cultural themed areas based on the cultures of Central Pennsylvania (and abroad as in the case of a proposed New England fishing village).
In 1973 and 1974, two parts of Minetown were constructed: Coal Cracker and the Sky Ride Minetown station. No further construction of Minetown occurred because the RDA plan was modified in late 1973, and the Tower Plaza development took priority over Minetown.
In 1978, Hersheypark explored several considerations for the 1980 season that included building out Minetown. The Minetown consideration was not chosen, with the park choosing to install the rides Pirat and Cyclops instead.
In 1989, park management decided to purchase a HUSS Condor ride and elected to install it in replacement of Himalaya, leading to the development of the Minetown theme region for the 1990 season.
To read more about this region, here is another article of interest:
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