Idora Park amusement park in Youngstown, Ohio, closed in September 1984.
The once-flourishing attraction was opened as Terminal Park in 1899 by the Youngstown Park and Falls Street Railway Company to encourage use of their streetcar services on weekends and holidays. Later named Idora Park, it was known as ‘Youngstown’s Million Dollar Playground’.
It remained popular longer than many other urban amusement parks, but was not immune from people’s increasing ability to travel further and independently by automobile, competition from national theme parks, and Youngstown’s industrial economic decline in the 1970s and 80s.
After years of declining fortunes, Idora Park’s fate was sealed by a devastating fire in 1984 which destroyed its flagship rides, and operations ceased a few months later. Many of the rides were sold, and the 48-horse merry-go-round was restored and installed as Jane’s Carousel in Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn, New York.
