The Parachute Jump is a defunct amusement ride and a landmark in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, along the Riegelmann Boardwalk at Coney Island. Situated in Steeplechase Plaza near the B&B Carousell, the structure consists of a , open-frame, steel parachute tower. Twelve cantilever steel arms radiate from the top of the tower; when the ride was in operation, each arm supported a parachute attached to a lift rope and a set of guide cables. Riders were belted into a two-person canvas seat, lifted to the top, and dropped. The parachute and shock absorbers at the bottom would slow their descent.
International Parachuting Inc. was selected in May 1938 to operate the Parachute Jump at the 1939 New York World's Fair at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in New York City. Capped by a flagpole, it was the second-tallest structure at the fair. The ride was sponsored by Life Savers during the fair's first season, and it was relocated during the fair's second season to attract more visitors. In 1941, after the World's Fair, it was moved again to the Steeplechase amusement park on Coney Island. It ceased operations in the 1960s following the park's closure, and the frame fell into disrepair.
Despite proposals to either demolish or restore the ride, disputes over its use caused it to remain unused through the 1980s. The Parachute Jump has been renovated several times since the 1990s, both for stability and for aesthetic reasons. In the 2000s, it was restored and fitted with a lighting system. The lights were activated in 2006 and replaced in a subsequent project in 2013. It has been lit up in commemoration of events such as the death of Kobe Bryant. The ride, the only remaining portion of Steeplechase Park, is a New York City designated landmark and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. ()
Description
The Parachute Jump is on the Riegelmann Boardwalk at Coney Island between West 16th and West 19th Streets. It consists of a hexagonal base, upon which stands a six-sided steel structure. Each of the tower's legs consists of a flange column braced with horizontal ribs at intervals and diagonal ribs between the horizontal beams. The legs are grounded on concrete foundations, each of which contains twelve timber piles. The diagonal and horizontal ribs intersect at gusset plates, which contain splices at intervals and are riveted to the base. A ladder is on the north side of the structure, extending from the top of the base.; There are anti-climbing devices on the frame. The frame has about 8,000 lighting fixtures, which are used for night-time light shows. The tower's wide base gives it stability, while the top is tapered off.;
The Parachute Jump is tall. When the ride operated at the 1939 New York World's Fair, it was tall, since it was topped by a flagpole.; Twelve drop points are at the top, marked by structural steel arms, which extend outward from the tower's center, and support octagonal subframes at the far end of each arm. Eight parachute guidelines were suspended from each subframe, which helped keep the parachute open. A circular structure runs atop the subframes, connecting them to each other. Walkways were above the top of the tower, as well as along each arm.
Functional parachutes dangled from each of the twelve sub-frames and were held open by metal rings. As originally designed, each parachute was in diameter. Each parachute required three cable operators. Riders were belted into two-person canvas seats hanging below the closed parachutes. The parachutes would open as the riders were hoisted to the top of the ride, where release mechanisms would drop them. The parachutes could be stopped at any time during the ascent, but not during the descent. The parachutes slowed the rider's descent, and the seats would be stopped by a brake after they had fallen to above ground level. Shock absorbers at the bottom, consisting of pole-mounted springs, cushioned the landing. The parachutes could accommodate loads of up to .
The base consists of a two-story pavilion. The upper floor housed mechanical structures and hoisting machinery, while the ground floor contained ticket booths and a waiting room. The pavilion has six sides divided by fluted piers which slope upward toward the corrugated galvanized-iron roof. The upper floor of the pavilion has red, yellow, and blue walls. The lower floor, below the height of the boardwalk, contained fenced-off open space. The concrete platform surrounding the pavilion is several steps beneath the boardwalk level. It was originally intended as a landing pad for riders and has a radius of . An access ramp was at the northeast corner of the platform.
Precursors
By the 1930s, parachutists could be trained by jumping from parachute towers rather than from aircraft. Accordingly, Stanley Switlik and George P. Putnam built a tower on Switlik's farm in Ocean County, New Jersey. The tower, which was designed to train airmen in parachute jumping, was first publicly used on June 2, 1935, when Amelia Earhart jumped from it.
The "parachute device" was patented by retired U.S. Naval Commander James H. Strong along with Switlik, inspired by early practice towers Strong had seen in the Soviet Union, where simple wooden towers had been used to train paratroopers since the 1920s. Strong designed a safer version of the tower, which included eight guide wires in a circle surrounding the parachute. Strong filed a patent in 1935 and built several test platforms at his home in Hightstown, New Jersey, in 1936 and 1937. The military platforms suspended a single rider in a harness and offered a few seconds of free fall after the release at the top before the chutes opened to slow the fall. In response to high civilian interest in trying out the ride, Strong modified his invention for non-military use, making some design changes. These included a seat that could hold two people, a larger parachute for a slower drop, a metal ring to hold it open, and shock-absorbing springs to ease the final landing. The modified amusement-ride version was marketed by Miranda Brothers Inc. as a , two-armed parachute jump.;
Strong sold military versions of the tower to the Romanian and U.S. armies, and he installed towers in New Jersey and Fort Benning, Georgia. He converted an existing observation tower in Chicago's Riverview Park into a six-chute amusement ride. This enterprise, the "Pair-O-Chutes", performed well enough that Strong applied to build and operate a jump at the 1939 New York World's Fair.; Another jump, also reportedly designed by Strong, was installed at the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne in Paris in 1937.
Operation
1939 World's Fair
Development Grover Whalen, the president of the New York World's Fair Corporation (WFC), selected International Parachuting Inc. in May 1938 to operate a parachute drop at the World's Fair. This was the first concession to be awarded for an amusement ride at the fair.; The ride, known as the Parachute Jump, was to be in the fair's amusement zone, along the eastern shore of Meadow Lake in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Queens.; Originally, the ride was placed near the southern end of the fairground's amusement area. L. C. Holden and R. D. Stott were hired to design the ride, and the firm of Skinner, Cook & Babcock was awarded the contract for the ride's erection in November 1938.; Construction of the Parachute Jump began the following month on December 11, 1938.
Elwyn E. Seelye & Co. designed the steelwork, Bethlehem Steel manufactured the tower pieces, and Skinner, Cook & Babcock assembled the pieces onsite. The construction cost about $99,000 (). Life Savers sponsored the ride, investing $15,000 () and decorated its tower with brightly lit, candy-shaped rings. Although the fair opened April 28, 1939, the Parachute Jump's aerial elevators had not been completed at that time. By late May 1939, just before the ride opened, Life Savers had begun installing billboards at the ride's base.
1939 season The Life Savers Parachute Jump opened on . It had twelve parachute bays; while five parachutes were operational upon opening, eleven would eventually be used at the fair. Within three days of the ride's opening, a flagpole was added atop the original tower to surpass the height of a statue within the Soviet Pavilion. The flagpole had been installed because members of the public had objected to the Soviet statue being placed higher than the United States' flag.; It was the second-tallest structure in the fair, aside from the Perisphere, which stood tall. Each ride cost for adults and for children. The trip to the top took about a minute, and the drop took between 10 and 20 seconds. The official 1939 Fair guidebook described the Parachute Jump as "one of the most spectacular features of the Amusement Area", calling the attraction "similar to that which the armies of the world use in early stages of training for actual parachute jumping".
The ride accommodated 4,500 passengers on its first two half-days of operation. Several incidents occurred within the first few months of the Parachute Jump's opening. On July 12, 1939, entangled cables left a married couple aloft for five hours in the middle of the night.; ; The couple returned to ride again the next day, having been congratulated for their courage by New York City mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, who had been at the World's Fair when they got stuck.; At least two other groups of people became stuck on the Parachute Jump in its first year: a deputy sheriff and his sister-in-law later in July 1939, and two female friends that September. Despite a decrease in fairground visitors during mid-1939, the Parachute Jump was one of the few attractions at the fair to remain profitable. The jump earned $119,524 in its first three months of operation (). At the end of the first season on November 1, 1939, the jump had recorded 551,960 visitors.
1940 season The Parachute Jump's popularity was negatively affected by its secluded location. After the Life Savers sponsorship ended at the conclusion of the 1939 season,; the WFC decided to relocate the ride to attract more visitors.; The relocation was announced in December 1939, and work began in February 1940.; The new location was near the New York City Subway's World's Fair station,; occupying part of the Children's World site at the northeast corner of the amusement area. A twelfth chute was installed, and the chutes, hoist cables, and guide wires were all replaced. The WFC also considered installing lights atop the Parachute Jump to increase its visibility. By the beginning of April 1940, workers were installing dozens of pilings to support the Parachute Jump. The project cost $88,500 (). The American Jubilee theater was built on the Parachute Jump's old site.
The ride was originally supposed to be completed by May 8, 1940. The chutes were installed on May 1, and the guide wires were still being installed when the fair reopened on May 11. The reopening was delayed by disagreements between International Parachuting Inc. and James Strong.; International Parachuting sued Strong to prevent him from selling the rights to the ride to third parties, though they ultimately reached a settlement that June. The Parachute Jump reopened on June 22, 1940,; over a month after the fair's reopening. The ride initially retained its original ticket prices of 40 cents for adults and 25 cents for children. In July 1940, in response to the implementation of a federal amusement tax, the ride's operators reduced the ticket prices to for adults and for children. During the fair's second season, a couple was married on the Parachute Jump in what one newspaper described as the first-ever "parachute ceremony".