Guide to the Kennywood Park Records 1895-2018

Arrangement

Repository
Heinz History Center
Title
Kennywood Park Records
Creator
Kennywood Park (West Mifflin, Pa.)
Collection Number
MSS 141
Extent
135.25 linear feet 131 boxes, 9 o/s boxes, 7 o/s items, 10 o/s rolls
Date
1895-2018
Abstract
Kennywood Park is one of the nation's longest running amusement parks and is located ten miles from downtown Pittsburgh in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania. The Kennywood Park Records document more than a century of park activities beginning with its establishment as a trolley park by the Pittsburgh Railways Company in 1898. The bulk of these records were created by park management and mostly consist of correspondence, financial records, contracts, blueprints, and photographs.
Language
English .
Author
The guide to this collection was written by Claire Moclock except the Biographical/Historical summary of Kennywood Park history, which was written by Fiona Seels on August 8, 1994. Revisions to the initial finding aid occurred in Summer 2001 as a part of the encoding process.
Sponsor
The processing and digitization of the Kennywood Park Records have been made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (www.neh.gov).
Publisher
Heinz History Center
Address
1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Kennywood Park, via President Carl O. Hughes, in 1992 (acc. 1992.0258).

Gift of Palace Entertainment, via Kennywood General Manager Jerome P. Gibas, in 2016 (acc. 2016.0109). The 2016 accession accounts for the bulk of the records.

Gift of Andy Quinn, director of community relations at Kennywood and member of the McSwigan family, in 2017 (acc.2017.0037).

Gift of Jason Belavic, former Kennywood employee, in 2017 (acc.2017.0101).

Arrangement

The records are arranged into seven series, which are further arranged into subseries based on record type or subject.

  1. Series I: Administrative Records (1906-2018)
  2. subseries 1. General Correspondence (1919-2012)
  3. subseries 2. Swimming Pool (1923-1973)
  4. subseries 3. Rides and Attractions (1917-2008)
  5. subseries 4. Entertainment (1922-1998)
  6. subseries 5. Picnic Correspondence (1922-2000)
  7. subseries 6. Employment-related Records (1907-2013)
  8. subseries 7. Personal Papers (1922-2000)
  9. subseries 8. Professional Organizations (1920-2018)
  10. subseries 9. Financial Records (1906-2001)
  11. subseries 10. Operations (1919-2000)
  12. Series II. Photographs (1895-2011)
  13. subseries 1. Prints (1895-2011)
  14. subseries 2. Negatives (1898-2007)
  15. subseries 3. Slides (1898-2001)
  16. Series III. Moving Images and Sound Recordings (1964-2006)
  17. subseries 1. Audio (1975-2005)
  18. subseries 2. Video (1970-2006)
  19. subseries 3: Films (1964-1986)
  20. Series IV. Blueprints and Drawings (1914-2007)
  21. subseries 1. Concept Art (1965-2004)
  22. subseries 2. Design Drawings (1945-2007)
  23. subseries 3. Architectural Blueprints (1914-2006)
  24. subseries 4. Logo and Poster Drafts (1925-1994)
  25. subseries 5. Artworks (1969-2005)
  26. Series V. Communications and Publicity (1900-2016)
  27. subseries 1. Advertisements and Marketing (1922-2004)
  28. subseries 2. Research and Development (1940-2000)
  29. subseries 3. Promotional Materials (1900-2016)
  30. subseries 4. Picnic Posters and Programs (1920-1999)
  31. Series VI. Daily Planners (1907-2006)
  32. subseries 1. Attendance Books (1907-2000)
  33. subseries 2. Notebooks - McSwigan, A.B. (1923-1952)
  34. subseries 3. Picnic Lists (2000-2006)
  35. subseries 4. Scheduling Planners (1948-1994)
  36. subseries 5. Ticket Distribution (1952-1999)
  37. subseries 6. Time Books (1910-1989)
  38. Series VII. Press Coverage (1900-2013)
  39. subseries 1. Books (1930-2010)
  40. subseries 2. Magazines and Newsletters (1900-2011)
  41. subseries 3. Newspaper Clippings (1902-2013)

History of Kennywood Park

Kennywood Park is an amusement park established in 1898 in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, ten miles outside of Pittsburgh. A National Historic Landmark, the park was built on land known as Kenny's Grove, which had been a picnic spot since the 1860s. The Monongahela Street Railway Company leased the land from the landowner, Anthony Kenny, to create a trolley park. Andrew W. Mellon, a partial owner of the railway company, named the park after Kenny. Kennywood opened to the public in 1899 with features that included a carousel, dance pavilion, and casino (the park's restaurant). The following year, the park added a bandstand and an athletic field.

In 1902, the Monongahela Street Railway Company hired Pittsburgh resident Frederick Ingersoll to build the Figure Eight Toboggan, one of the country's first figure-eight roller coasters. That same year, the Monongahela Street Railway Company merged with several other trolley lines to form the Pittsburgh Railways Company (PRC). The PRC turned the management of Kennywood Park over to the Pittsburgh and Steeplechase Amusement Company, but the company folded in 1905. The PRC returned as the park's operator for the next two years. In late 1906, they turned the park's management over to Andrew S. McSwigan, Fred W. Henninger, and A. F. Meghan, who formed a partnership known as Pittsburgh Kennywood Park Company, Limited.

A.S. McSwigan served as head of advertising for the PRC and managed the promotion of PRC's rail parks in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania that included Kennywood Park, Southern Park (Carrick), Calhoun Park (Lincoln Place), and Duquesne Gardens (Pittsburgh). Fred W. Henninger was part owner of Conneaut Lake Park and was one of the original organizers of West View Park. A. F. Meghan was the manager of Kennywood for the PRC and was the first manager of West View Park. The main office for the Kennywood Park Company was in the Farmers Bank Building in downtown Pittsburgh. The three men quickly established group picnics as the foundation for renewing Kennywood's business. Schools, churches, companies, and ethnic groups began using Kennywood for their annual celebrations. In 1908, Meghan sold his shares to the other two partners, leaving A.S. McSwigan as president and Henninger as secretary-treasurer.

This management company embraced new technology and pursued strategies to increase interest in the park with new rides and amusements. In 1904, Kennywood Park also began showing motion pictures, a practice that continued through the 1930s. In 1910, the park hired Ingersoll to build the first Racer rollercoaster. It was the largest twin-track coaster in the world at the time and cost nearly $50,000 to construct. While the park continued to add new mechanical attractions throughout the decade, Kennywood's other great draw was dancing. The dance pavilion was open every afternoon and hosted special dances on weekends.

In 1920, A.S. McSwigan and Henninger helped establish the National Amusement Park Association (now the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions). The organization was formed during a meeting of industry leaders at the Fort Pitt Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh, with A.S. McSwigan serving as its first president.

When A. S. McSwigan died in 1923, he was replaced at Kennywood by his son, Andrew Brady McSwigan. During the 1920s, A.B. McSwigan oversaw the creation of Kiddieland, the park's swimming pool, a new tower refreshment stand complete with a small radio studio that became the source of the "Voice of Kennywood."

Business fell off during the Depression of the 1930s, forcing the park to reduce staff and advertising, concentrating funds on maintenance and free entertainment designed to draw crowds into the park. Kennywood also needed to increasingly compete with local parks in Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio for the lucrative and predictable picnic business. After World War II, Kennywood's greatest problems were material shortages and growing competition with other forms of recreation such as movies and television. Kennywood prospered during the early years of television by developing new attractions and inviting television stars into the park as entertainment. Throughout the 1950s, Kennywood paid local and national entertainment personalities and characters, including Lassie, Superman, and the Lone Ranger, to appear at the park.

In later years, Kennywood modified or removed a number of the park's prominent features. In the early 1950s, civil rights advocates began to call on management to desegregate the facility. In response, the park converted the pool into a water ride for a few years, before reopening it as an integrated attraction in 1956. The pool was later closed at the end of the 1973 season due to escalating maintenance costs and outdated equipment. In 1961, Kennywood's bandshell burned to the ground, although firefighters did manage to save the Pippin rollercoaster, which was located nearby. The park later converted the Pippin into the Thunderbolt, a nationally recognized roller coaster.

In 1971, the Kennywood Park Company purchased the park's 140 acres for 1.3 million dollars from the heirs of the Kenny family. The park's success continued for the next several decades with the addition of more roller coasters, and it soon became known as the "Roller Coaster Capital of the World." The park expanded locally by purchasing the Idlewild amusement park near Ligonier, Pennsylvania (1983) and constructing the Sandcastle water park in West Homestead, Pennsylvania (1989). In 1995, Kennywood opened the Lost Kennywood section of the park, which is modeled after amusement parks from the early 1900s.

In 2007, Parques Reunidos, based in Spain, purchased Kennywood Entertainment. Palace Entertainment, a subsidiary of Parques Reunidos, became Kennywood's parent company, but day-to-day park operations continued to be managed by local staff.

Preferred Citation

Kennywood Park Records, 1895-2018, MSS 141, Detre Library & Archives, Heinz History Center

Processing Information

Processed by Claire Moclock between 2019 and 2021. Processing of 1992 accession by Fiona Seels in 1994.

Conditions Governing Use

Property rights reside with the Senator John Heinz History Center. Copyright may be retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. Researchers are therefore advised to follow the regulations set forth in the U.S. Copyright Code when publishing, quoting, or reproducing material from this collection without the consent of the creator/author or that go beyond what is allowed by fair use.

Scope and Contents

The Kennywood Park Records include correspondence, photographs, drawings, publicity material, moving images and financial records, offering a comprehensive view of the history of the amusement park.

Separated Materials

A number of related objects were included in the 2016.0109 and 2017.0101 accessions (museum accession numbers 2016.76 and 2017.4). These items were separated to the Heinz History Center's object collection.

Conditions Governing Access

Box 104, folders 4-11 containing Kennywood Illustrated News and related publications have been restricted due to fragility. Please see library reference staff for more information. Two issues of Kennywood Illustrated News have been digitized and are representative of this group of papers.

Existence and Location of Copies

Digital reproductions of a selection of photographs and documents from the Kennywood Park Records can be found online at https://historicpittsburgh.org/collection/kennywood-park-records.

Subjects

    Corporate Names

    • National Association of Amusement Parks
    • National Association of Amusement Parks, Pools, and Beaches
    • International Association of Amusement Parks
    • Pennsylvania Amusement Parks Association
    • American Coaster Enthusiasts

    Personal Names

    • Henninger, Frederick W.
    • McSwigan, Andrew S. (1865-1923)
    • McSwigan, Andrew B.
    • Traver, Harry G., 1877-1961

    Geographic Names

    • Idlewild and SoakZone (Ligonier, Pa.)

    Other Subjects

    • Americanization
    • Amusement Parks -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Amusement ride equipment industry
    • Carpatho-Rusyn Americans -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Company picnics
    • Concessions (Amusements, etc.)
    • Company picnics
    • Dance -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Discrimination in public accommodations
    • Entertainers -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Family-owned business enterprises -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Irish Americans -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Italian Americans -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Landscape architecture
    • Military service--United States--World War II
    • Picnics
    • Polish Americans -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Roller coasters -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Scottish Americans -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Segregation
    • Slovak Americans -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Sunday legislation
    • Swimming -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Vaudeville
    • Trolley cars -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Amusement Parks -- Pennsylvania

Container List