Screamin_Eagle Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 (edited) back in the day, St. Louis had an amusement park called the Forest Park Highlands, it was a famous park for many years, it was sadly destroyed by a fire in July of 1963. The Highlands was home to the "Comet" roller coaster, which was at the time the largest coaster built. Comet Facts: height- 85 ft length- 3,120 ft opened May 15, 1941 and it was designed by Herbert Schmeck with trains from the PTC running on its course.. Ironically, the only thing that wasn't burned, was the Comet. The Comet was pulled down over three days in 1966, and until they tore it down, they had to place pieces of rubber over sections of the track to keep people from trying to take that one final ride.. you can see what the Highlands looked like in this video, it also includes a POV of the Comet! pre- TPR of course ALL PHOTOS BELOW ARE OWNED BY DOUG GARNER AND CAN BE FOUND ON HIS WEBSITE WHICH IS DEDICATED TO:forestparkhighlands.com as seen from Oakland Ave. coming down the first drop Edited January 11, 2012 by larrygator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLIPDUDE Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Uhm, is it just me, or is the lady in that one picture standing up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themeparkologist Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 ^ I do believe so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Screamin_Eagle Posted January 18, 2010 Author Share Posted January 18, 2010 I am shocked every time I see that picture, guess she was an original adrenaline junkie! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBru Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 The Comet looked like an awesome coaster. Thanks for sharing this; I never would have known about it if not! Cool trains, as well. The pacing seemed great, and I'm sure the bunny-hop finale was really fun. Did anyone here get a chance to ride it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VGplay Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Is it just me, or does the layout look like something the CCI could've built ten years ago? I think its the sweeping turnarounds and bunny hills on turns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pirouettes907 Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Wow, this is awesome! I keep thinking of all the what-ifs and how Forest Park Highlands and the Comet might be if they somehow made it to today since Forest Park is only about a 20 minute walk from my front door. I've been wanting to dig up some information on this place, and I wanted to ask if you know whereabouts along Oakland the park was located. In the overview shots of the Comet, it looks like there's another road to the left of the coaster's first turnaround running perpendicular to Oakland, and I'm thinking of a few possibilities (Skinker? Tamm? Hampton?) and searching Google maps to try and figure out where this place was. I'd love to hear any additional information you may have. Thanks for sharing all this! ~Megan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coaster-crazy Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 ^ Go to this page: http://www.rcdb.com/5329.htm Then click on maps, then satellite, then zoom in, and there you go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterP Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Wow, this is awesome! I keep thinking of all the what-ifs and how Forest Park Highlands and the Comet might be if they somehow made it to today since Forest Park is only about a 20 minute walk from my front door. I've been wanting to dig up some information on this place, and I wanted to ask if you know whereabouts along Oakland the park was located. In the overview shots of the Comet, it looks like there's another road to the left of the coaster's first turnaround running perpendicular to Oakland, and I'm thinking of a few possibilities (Skinker? Tamm? Hampton?) and searching Google maps to try and figure out where this place was. I'd love to hear any additional information you may have. Thanks for sharing all this! ~Megan That street than ran along the back side of the Comet is Macklind Ave. The coaster ran along the south side of Oakland Ave. on the north end of the park, basically from where the current Hampton Inn and Suites stands on Oakland to the west all the way through the north end of the Forest Park Community College campus east to Macklind Ave. Tamm Ave is about 1/4 to 1/2 mile west of where the park was and Skinker is about 1/2 a mile to a mile west... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pirouettes907 Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 I see that I was looking for the location on the wrong side of Oakland, so thank you for the info, coaster-crazy (how silly of me to not think of rcdb) and MisterP! ~Megan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorkscrewFoley Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 Is it just me, or does the layout look like something the CCI could've built ten years ago? I think its the sweeping turnarounds and bunny hills on turns. You know, I was just thinking the same thing. No wonder I liked it so much (the video). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Screamin_Eagle Posted January 20, 2010 Author Share Posted January 20, 2010 Wow, this is awesome! I keep thinking of all the what-ifs and how Forest Park Highlands and the Comet might be if they somehow made it to today since Forest Park is only about a 20 minute walk from my front door. I've been wanting to dig up some information on this place, and I wanted to ask if you know whereabouts along Oakland the park was located. In the overview shots of the Comet, it looks like there's another road to the left of the coaster's first turnaround running perpendicular to Oakland, and I'm thinking of a few possibilities (Skinker? Tamm? Hampton?) and searching Google maps to try and figure out where this place was. I'd love to hear any additional information you may have. Thanks for sharing all this! ~Megan Forest Park Highlands stood in the place where Forest Park Community College now stands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCody Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 I had never heard of this park, or this amazing coaster. Thank you so much for the post. Is it just me, or do old coasters always look like they went faster? It's not just the film speed, I swear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kd0dg Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 I remember the Highlands. It burned down when I was 16, just old enough to drive there on my own. We had a lot of fun there and I still think the Comet is the best roller coaster I have ridden. Another fun ride was the Bobsled. It wasn't as wild as the Comet but it was fun to ride. I also remember Vincent Price on the Tonight Show as a guest one time where he was talking about going to the Highlands when he was a kid. He grew up in St. Louis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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