Broad Ripple Park Carousel
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Broad Ripple Park Carousel
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The restored carousel in The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
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| Location | 30th and Meridian Streets, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States |
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| Coordinates | 39°48′39″N 86°9′25.5″W / 39.81083°N 86.157083°WCoordinates: 39°48′39″N 86°9′25.5″W / 39.81083°N 86.157083°W |
| Built | 1917 |
| Architect | William F. Mangels; Gustav Dentzel |
| NRHP Reference # | 87000839 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | February 27, 1987 |
| Designated NHL | February 27, 1987 |
Broad Ripple Park Carousel is an antique carousel in The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. It was installed in 1917 at an amusement park near the White River in Indianapolis, Indiana, where it remained until the building housing it collapsed in 1956. The ride's mechanism was destroyed, but the animals were relatively unscathed and put into storage by the park's owners, the Indianapolis Department of Parks and Recreation. The animals were carved by the Dentzel Carousel Company some time before 1900 but were assembled by the William F. Mangels carousel company, which also supplied the engine powering the ride.
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis acquired its first two carved animals from the ride in 1965, and the last few wooden animals in 1973. The museum planned to sell some to finance the restoration of others until the director of the museum, Mildred Compton, was convinced by carousel enthusiasts that the museum should instead restore all the animals and recreate the working carousel. Restoration of the carved animals began in 1966 and was only finished with the restoration of the entire carousel in 1977. No space had been allocated for the display of such a large exhibit in the museum's planned new building, which meant some re-designing was necessary to allow its installation on the fifth floor. A 1919 Wurlitzer organ model 146B, a type manufactured only for carousels, was also installed. As restored, the carousel is 42 feet (13 meters) wide and has a total of 42 animals, including – as well as the usual horses – goats, giraffes, deer, a lion, and a tiger. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987.
The Broad Ripple Park Carousel was installed in 1917 in an amusement park on the outskirts of Indianapolis, Indiana. The White City Amusement Park had been established in 1906 in what is now Broad Ripple Village, alongside the White River. In 1908 a fire caused damage throughout the park, and only the swimming pool remained unscathed. The park closed for three years until its purchase by the Union Traction Company, which restored it and operated it for eleven years. The carousel was installed during the Union Traction Company's ownership. The park was sold in May 1922 to the new Broad Ripple Amusement Park Association, and renamed Broad Ripple Park. In 1927 the park was sold again, and changed hands once more in 1938. The Board of Parks Commission of Indianapolis bought the property on May 18, 1945, paying $131,500 (approximately $1.75 million as of 2017) for the 60-acre (24-hectare) tract, and turned the property into a general-use park, destroying all rides it could not sell. The board's original plan was to sell the carousel and the narrow-gauge railway rides. Only the carousel remained in Indianapolis after it was unsold; the steam locomotive is now at the Indiana Transportation Museum at Noblesville, Indiana.
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