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Park Profile
www.parkworld-online.com
QUASSY AMUSEMENT PARK
Where Americana is alive and well
Quassy Amusement Park
E
ven though 1930 spelled the end of the line pavilion in 1910. A gigantic pavilion added a few
is nothing short of a New for the Connecticut Trolley Company, its most years later now houses a redemption arcade,
England, if not American, popular summer stop, one that filled the rail though its unique architecture is still intact.
treasure. Located at the cars to capacity, lives on. Quassy is one of only 11 In the late 1920s major improvements were
end of an electrified rail remaining “trolley parks” in the United States, parks made to Route 64 leading to the lake and park-
(“trolley”) line that has once owned and operated by electrified rail lines. goers soon found buses to Quassy much faster
been gone for more than Prior to The Great Depression of 1929, there was than riding the rails and by 1930 the trolley line
70 years, it has beaten more than 1,000 such properties. had ceased operation.
the odds on many This 20-acre lakeside facility this summer marked A new carousel roundhouse was constructed in
occasion to proudly a monumental milestone by celebrating its 1927 near the dance hall and the E Joy Morris
proclaim the title of centennial. Not only has the park been in operation menagerie carousel was moved inside the structure
“survivor” in an industry for 100 years, but for the past 71 seasons it has it would call home for the next 60 years. The park
that has seen hundreds been owned by members of the same family. limped along during The Great Depression while
of similar facilities fade many similar businesses in the nation were
away. As the curtain Quaint Name shuttered for good.
comes down in the Like many other parks of the era, Quassy’s main A significant change in ownership occurred in
park’s centennial attraction when it opened in 1908 was that of a 1937 when three of the park’s concessionaires,
season, Ron Gustafson picnic grove offering boating, dancing and bathing John Frantzis, George Terezakis and Mike Leon,
talks us through 100 in sparkling Lake Quassapaug.
years of lakeside fun For years the facility was known
as Lake Quassapaug,
Quassapaug a Native American
term meaning “big pond.” The
locals started calling the park
simply “Quassy” decades ago
and the nickname stuck, though
you will hear an occasional old-
timer strolling through the
property still refer to it as “Lake
Quassapaug.”
Trolley rides from nearby
Waterbury were 15 cents during
those start-up years according to
newspaper ads. A carousel was
soon added, as was a dance
32 OCTOBER 2008
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