Hidden Amusements : Williams Grove Amusement Park

Williams Grove - Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania

By Kayla Miller

September 13, 2021

Willow Grove Park - Wikipedia

Photo Credit: Public Domain

There is something haunting about an abandoned amusement park. You can almost imagine the smells of popcorn and the sounds of rides in motion mixed with laughter and memories forming. It always amazes me that something so special and magical in nature can come to a screaming halt. A coaster, sitting in the station patiently waiting for its next riders that will never come. This brings us to Williams Grove amusement park in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

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Photo Credit: Williams Grove Amusement Park Facebook Page

Williams Grove Amusement Park has been drawing in visitors since around 1850. It started off as a little picnic area in a grove that was maintained by the Williams family. The first transition this area experienced was the growth from a small family picnic area into the Mechanicsburg Fairgrounds in the 1870s. It would be almost another 60 years before the first rides made their way to Williams Grove. The park even further expanded in popularity when they opened the Williams Grove speedway across the road from the amusement park in 1938, only ten years later.

. 3 wide at Williams Grove Speedway | Vintage racing, Dirt racing, Vintage race car

Photo Credit: Public Domain

1972 was an eventful year for Williams Grove. First, the Williams family made the decision to sell the amusement park and speedway to Morgan Hughes. That same year more rides were brought in from a freshly defunct amusement park, New Jersey’s Palisades Amusement Park. The park had a promising path ahead of it with the new management and the new rides, however, nature had other plans. Hurricane Agnes of 1972 almost completely destroyed the amusement park. This, mixed with the frequent flooding from the nearby creek, provided a devastating setback for the amusement park.

Photo Credit: Williams Grove Amusement Park Facebook Page

Luckily, the amusement park was able to recover with a fresh batch of rides. The most famous ride being the old Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC) manufactured coaster, Cyclone. Cyclone opened in 1933 under the name Zipper. The coaster underwent a name change when they got new cars from the Palisades Park Cyclone. The ride featured a height of 65 feet and a top speed of 45 miles per hour. Towards the end of its lifetime, the coaster had gotten particularly rough. This seemed to only ramp up the adoration and excitement of coaster enthusiasts even more. You can find a Cyclone point-of-view video on youtube. The link will be at the end of the post. As of 2017, the retired roller coaster is still standing along the edges of the ghost town amusement park. However, there were rumors that the park had planned to relocate the trains to a museum in New Jersey for display. At this time, I have not been able to confirm if this ever ended up happening.

Photo Credit: Williams Grove Amusement Park Facebook Page

Of course, there were numerous other attractions at this small amusement park. Another honorable mention was the park’s only steel coaster Wildcat. The coaster operated at a number of other parks before reaching Williams Grove Amusement Park. These parks included: Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Playland Park, and Steel Pier. In 2005, when the park shut its gates for good, Wildcat was relocated once again to its present location of Adventure Park USA in Maryland. As previously mentioned, the park had a number of other rides and attractions, these will also be listed at the end of the post.

Photo Credit: Williams Grove Amusement Park Facebook Page

Ultimately, what happened to this cute family-oriented amusement park? Truthfully, it did not deserve the ending that it had. In 2005, the Hughes family chose to focus solely on the speedway. They attempted to sell the amusement park, however, there were simply no buyers. With that, they closed the park for good at the end of the 2005 season and it never reopened. They did end up selling a good portion of the rides that were on the property, but not all of them. To this day, the owners of the park live on property and attempt, half-heartedly, to maintain the historical buildings. With the park still subject to flooding and undergoing frequent visits from trespassers that have left their marks of vandalism, the park is in a rather rough condition and is still off-limits to the public and visitors. The only exception to this rule, as far as I know, was in 2016 when the park had a Halloween event on the grounds. This event included a walk-through of the abandoned location. Hopefully, we’ll see a revisit of this event in the upcoming years. If so, you can guarantee I’ll be there.

Wrap-Up Information

List of Rides at Williams Grove Amusement Park

The Cyclone (Zipper): 1933 - 2005 The wooden coaster, 65 ft high and 45 mph
Wildcat: 2001-2005, Steel Coaster, 45 ft high, relocated to Adventure Park in Maryland
Kiddie Coaster: 1992-2005, kid-friendly coaster
Little Dipper: 1950-1963, a little family coaster
Dante’s Inferno: Dark Fun House Ride, featured a walk through portion called “Allotria”, still standing today
Two Water Slides: Built in the 1980s, the slides have been removed but the platforms are still standing
Flat Rides: