Freedomland - The Bronx - 1960 - Anyone Remember?

[Selene]

A friend of mine asked about it the other day.

 

She had heard about it and all the untold, or, hidden drama's about it and Disney.

 

I not only remember it, I went to it with my friends and on a date now and then.

 

 

Freedomland’s Attractions

 

Construction of Freedomland was supervised by Cornelius Vanderbilt (C.V.) Wood, Jr. He was president of the Marco Engineering Company of Los Angeles and had been president (1954-1956) of The Walt Disney Company.

Instrumental in Disneyland’s creation, Wood attracted several former Disney veterans and amassed a design team of 200 leading artists to create a park that was arranged into seven themed periods of American history. It had eight miles of navigable man-made waterways and lakes, 10,000 new trees, 18 restaurants and snack bars, and a host of local and national sponsors.

    Little Old New York: horse-drawn trolleys, a brewery sponsored by the Schaefer Brewing Company, tug boats chugging through the city’s harbor, Macy’s recreation of its original store and other sponsors such as the Bank of New York and John’s Bargain Stores.
    Chicago: focused on the great fire, a large building actually burned at designated times during the day as the Freedomland fire company rushed its19th century water pump to the site to douse the flames.
    The Great Plains: home for Fort Cavalry that witnessed shootouts between bandits and the sheriff and an actual working farm sponsored by The Borden Company that showcased Elsie the Cow.
    San Francisco: Chinatown and the Barbary Coast entertainment district were complemented with attractions that simulated the great earthquake and a boat ride through the rugged northwest; the Hollywood Arena was added during 1962 to feature animal acts and stunt shows.
    The Old Southwest: a burro trail ride, roaming Texas Longhorns and bison, a ride through mine caverns and shows at a wild west opera house and saloon.
    New Orleans: a ride on a correspondent’s wagon through a Civil War battle featured early use of moving characters and special effects that later were made popular by Disney; the Frito Lay Company sponsored a Mexican restaurant that introduced the Sloppy Joe; an attraction closely resembled Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean.
    Satellite City: focused on the growing popularity of space exploration; the Moon Bowl included the largest outdoor dance floor and stage for popular performers to attract older teenagers and young adults.

 

http://backinthebronx.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/archive/bronxezine/newest/

 

 

My maternal grandfather, Gerard Correale, passed away when I was just two years old. He was an enterprising Sicilian immigrant who lived on Waldo Avenue in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx and took many odd jobs in New York City, including a longtime sales position at Nabisco when the factory was located in what is now the chic Chelsea Market food hall. My grandfather relished telling us about all his different jobs but reserved the greatest enthusiasm for his stint as a Wild West cowboy in the Bronx in 1960.

*  *  *

As you drive north on the Hutchinson River Parkway, Co-op City- thirty-five buildings that house over sixty thousand people—looms on your left. The largest cooperative housing development in the world, it occupies a tidal flat in Baychester that was once home to the Siwanoy tribe of Native Americans.
Cowboys at the Bordens Farm store before a spontaneous gunfight (Photo courtesy Freedomland U.S.A./Facebook)
Cowboys at the Bordens Farm store before a spontaneous gunfight (Photo courtesy Freedomland U.S.A./Facebook)

Many tribes of the Algonquian language group had occupied the Bronx for hundreds of years before Henry Hudson and the Dutch arrived in the early seventeenth century. In one brutal incident nearby in 1643, 1,600 Native Americans were executed on the order of New Amsterdam's governor, Willem Kieft, after local chiefs refused to pay tributes to the Dutch West India Company. With Kieft as its leader, Dutch West was not profitable enough for its European shareholders. The Native American reprisal was swift and bloody. They massacred Dutch settlers, one of which included Anne Hutchinson, the namesake of the river that flows through this area, and started a bloody conflict known as Kieft’s War.

Later, the remote area was used as an illegal dumping ground with a small patch of farmland and a mill owned by the Reed (or Reid) family for nearly three hundred years. It became a pickling factory in the early 1900s. In the 1950s, several real estate developers finally saw the unheralded land as an opportunity. One of them decided to build an amusement park.

 

http://narrative.ly/stories/freedomland-forever/

 

[Brant Gaede]

Reading about William Kieft saying he ordered the "execution of 1600" Indians is a little too smooth for the complicated reality--but the end result was much the same. He was stupid and destructive and genocidal and broke the backs of the Dutch in New York and its environs. The English prevailed as they were to prevail again against the French in the following century and the Americans--English by proxy--were to prevail against Spain and Mexico in turn in yet the next century. In the mid-17th century the Dutch and English fought epic sea battles with the Dutch, sometimes giving much better than they got. One reason is they built their ships with shallow drafts to better navigate their coastal waters and when they retreated the deeper drafted English ships could not follow. Such was also therefore a secure base for their sorties. But, there was a disadvantage in rough seas.

I believe the Netherlands pushed aside Portugal as the primary sea-going commercial colonial power, then were checked by the British somewhat. Spain had ruled the Netherlands in the 16th century. I'm not sure just when and how that ended. There was a war. The Dutch were merchants par excellence.

The first (English) Earl of Sandwich, Edward Mountagu, was blown up with his ship by the Dutch in 1672.

--Brant

first I ever heard of Freedomland--nice video (I saw the "TUCSON MINE" in it [nice touch])--even though I was living nearby in NJ 1960-1962

4 decades ago I worked for several years in the old National Biscuit Company building on the lower east side (Chelsea?--it was near the river) for a division of Avnet Corp. (you could see "NBC" as a raised logo on the side of the bldg which was for deliveries)--Nabisco was then in New Jersey and subsequently subjected to some famous leveraged corporate takeover fiasco (Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco)

[Selene]

The year Freedomland opened this was the result of the closest election in Presidential history...just about one vote per election district nationwide...

[Brant Gaede]

Take 51 away from Kennedy and add them to Nixon = actual result X TX and IL fraud.

--Brant

Nixon was glad he wasn't the one to be shot

[Selene]

How many folks know that Byrd got 15 electoral votes?

I sure didn't.

[Brant Gaede]

How many folks know that Byrd got 15 electoral votes?

I sure didn't.

Knew and forgot. It's trivia, but wasn't during the campaign (was it?).

--Brant

I think Storm Thurmond made a bigger splash in 1948, but it bores me historically (Dixiecrats?)

[Selene]

How many folks know that Byrd got 15 electoral votes?

I sure didn't.

Knew and forgot. It's trivia, but wasn't during the campaign (was it?).

--Brant

I think Storm Thurmond made a bigger splash in 1948, but it bores me historically (Dixiecrats?)

http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/

[turkeyfoot]

Freedomland '60 had some semblance to what Epcot Center was in '83 and '12 in Orlando. The American Adventure hadnt been noticeably upgraded in those 29 yrs between visits. But I was delighted to see Ayn Rands quote dead center coming through the doors as if in a place of honor. "Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision."

https://nicolecushing.wordpress.com/2009/11/07/great-moments-in-bizarro-history-ayn-rands-1946-letter-to-walt-disney/

"Disney was exactly the man who Rand wanted to bring Anthem to the silver screen. In the introduction to Anthem, Rand’s “intellectual heir” Leonard Peikoff quotes from a letter Rand wrote to Walt Disney.

Rand writes to Disney that if Anthem were ever made into a film, “I would like to see it done in stylized drawings, rather than with living actors”"

It seems as if the feeling between them was mutual.

[Selene]

Freedomland '60 had some semblance to what Epcot Center was in '83 and '12 in Orlando. The American Adventure hadnt been noticeably upgraded in those 29 yrs between visits. But I was delighted to see Ayn Rands quote dead center coming through the doors as if in a place of honor. "Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision."

https://nicolecushing.wordpress.com/2009/11/07/great-moments-in-bizarro-history-ayn-rands-1946-letter-to-walt-disney/

"Disney was exactly the man who Rand wanted to bring Anthem to the silver screen. In the introduction to Anthem, Rand’s “intellectual heir” Leonard Peikoff quotes from a letter Rand wrote to Walt Disney.

Rand writes to Disney that if Anthem were ever made into a film, “I would like to see it done in stylized drawings, rather than with living actors”"

It seems as if the feeling between them was mutual.

Thanks... never knew this aspect...