Chicago's Riverview Park

[Nate]

Hello to everyone at Theme Park Review! I'm Nate.

 

I'm currently working on a recreation of Riverview Park, and I need your help! I thought I might have more luck reaching out over here than I have on my usual RCT turf.

 

I have a decent collection of photos and postcards, but there is still a good portion of the park for which I have no good references—just some blurry and obscured aerial views. So far I've had to settle for little more than an informed guess as to the layouts of Comet and about half of Fireball, so I'm particularly keen to find more on those.

 

If anyone has any photos, stories, or other information you could share, I'd love to hear from you. I'd be especially excited to find anyone who might still have firsthand knowledge of the park.

 

Here's a quick screen of some of what I have so far:

Still a work in progress

[JamesMC]

There is a pretty good collection of pics in the book Riverview:Gone but not forgotten.. by Chuck Wlodarczyk on amazon and possibly EBay.

[JT325]

^MOST excellent suggestion! I spent half of the 80s as a kid coaster geek with my nose buried in that book (and Roller Coaster Fever!). I go past the old Riverview site all the time; what a sad situation to have lost a great park. The first coaster/park related event I ever went to was a Riverview show put on by Chuck Wlodarczyk around 1986. In addition to all the Riverview stuff, he had incredible pictures he took of almost every other park and coaster. The color 8x10s of Texas Cyclone from 1978... I'll never get rid of those.

 

Looks like there are good/used copies of the book on Amazon for very cheap: https://www.amazon.com/Riverview-Gone-Forgotten-1904-1967/dp/0911694072

I definitely need a new(er) copy. Mine was worn out by the end of the 80s.

 

^^Your park is looking nice! Keep up the good work. An older friend of mine once told me, while looking at a green-decked parch: "that reminds me of Riverview." I asked why. He said "they had a lot of sh*t that color." I love green in parks. Green and white go well.