Defunctland: The History of Freedomland U.S.A.

On June 15, 1959, Disneyland Park celebrated its first major expansion with a television special hosted by Walt Disney himself. The star-studded event was billed as Disneyland's second grand opening. A real sight among their spectators were four men huddled together in a small motel room in Wakefield. Massachusetts were both impressed and disappointed. They had all been at the park for years before its grand opening. All had played an important role in the development of the park. The four of them were now on the other side of the country. days of hours in their own theme park project that would be less impressive and visited by fewer people at the time, all but one wishing they were back at Disneyland once the special was over, they turned off the TV, cracked open some beers, and played a few rounds of poker to get their minds off Anaheim.

CV Wood was at best a con man and at worst a swindler. He was born on December 17, 1920 in a small town in Oklahoma, although he often claimed that he was from Texas, where he had moved around age 8. His father worked for the Santa Fe Railroad during the height of the Great Depression, but she resented the poverty of his youth, so he rarely mentioned that he would claim that he had an engineering degree. from the University of Oklahoma, but there is no proof of this and many close to him doubted the accuracy of the claim, even though this lumber was able to get multiple engineering jobs simply by saying he was qualified and hoping no one would verify, which They didn't even do it. his own name CV was not free of wooden inventions CV stood for Cornelius Vanderbilt some would say it stood for Commodore Vanderbilt but if someone asked him his name was C you're welcome V you're welcome he'd prefer Woodie anyway Woodie sold his falsehoods over the top with a cartoonish Texas accent and a showman personality his greatest fear in life was returning to poverty and his greatest goal was prominence he had learned to play life like a game of poker he wasn't dealt a good hand so he learned to bluff and no one had called him.

Woodie eventually went to work for the Stanford Research Institute at an economic development company who in 1953 was hired by Walton Roy Disney to assist in the construction of Walt's amusement park. Harrison Buz, an economist at Stanford, and Woody were tasked with finding a location for the park, as well as researching many of the logistics necessary to operate such a business, Woody took on his role effortlessly, casually chatting with the owners and He leaked false leads to the press so that no one would know where Walt intended to buy the land. The charming and manipulative Woody and Buzz Price also carried out arguably the most thorough evaluation of amusement parks at the time and soon CV Wood became a qualified expert in his field, more qualified than ever as an engineer by April 1954. with the construction of the park. ready to go Roy Disney asked Wood to leave the Stanford Research Institute and join Disneyland full time as its general manager and executive vice president.

He also made him the park's first employee; He was expected to remain at least through construction and the first year of During his childhood, Woody had developed a close-knit group of friends who nicknamed themselves the Bombers after a World War I movie they had seen. The Bombers remained friends into their adulthood and constantly hired each other for their projects after landing this position at Disneyland. He did not hesitate and hired many of his childhood friends and other acquaintances of his. A bombardier, Earl Shelton, would become Disneyland site manager. One of the former chiefs of the forest.

Fred Schumacher, who would help develop the 1939 New York World's Fair, would be hired as the park's executive. A former co-worker. by woods Van Arsdale France would join Disneyland in training park employees Joe Fowler, a retired Navy admiral with whom he had worked while at SR. I was hired to supervise the construction of the Mark Twain riverboat. It was as if Woody was planning a coup d'état and Walk began to suspect his intentions. Woody was a man who was always moving up the ladder and being the general manager of Disneyland he had nowhere else to go.

Walt tended to resent the demands within his organization as they often limited his creative visions, but Walt soon learned that wood was on another level and was willing to do or say anything for sale, no matter how uncomfortable it might be. However Walt felt about Woody's business practices, he and Roy needed it, especially when it came to getting sponsors for the piece while construction continued. The tensions between Walton Woody went through a series of incidents. Wood was frustrated by Walt's attention to detail and the park believed it was unnecessary. At one point, Wood approached Walt to ask for an increase in construction costs.

Walt rejected him. Disneyland was quickly running out of funds and Walt was Offended by Wood's audacity, Woody still believed he deserved a higher salary and now feeling insulted by Walt, he secretly organized a series of bribes with small salesmen who wanted to enter Disneyland. Additionally, Walt would blame Woody for much of the Disneyland opening chaos being referenced. like Black Sunday, while believing that the lack of crowd control and the many non-operating attractions were the fault of the park manager once Disneyland was open and considered a success, Woody in his quest for fame tried to call the attention when Vice President Richard Nixon received the key to Disneyland Wood was the one who presented it in November 1955, just a few months after the opening of Disneyland, Walt opened the Mickey Mouse Club circus on the outskirts of the park, which was strongly opposed later. that the circus failed to attract visitors and suggested they made changes, prompting Walt to respond with a quote: "Damn you, this is my circus." Willie was constantly intervening between the two, but from Woods' perspective, he often had to mediate between Walt and Roy, perhaps Wood's most suspicious move while at Disneyland was the way he courted Ron Miller's son-in-law Walt in moment, convincing Miller that Walt was irrational in his plans for the park, almost as if he wanted to attract more members of the Disneyland team to his side.

Walt might have felt threatened by the wood and his group of followers. that he was acquiring within his own organization for fear of being betrayed with Disneyland as he had done with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Universal or with the strike at his own studio, if it was manipulation of the forest, Walt's paranoia, we are a mixture of both, it is still unclear. but the series of incidents led to Woods' dismissal in January 1956. Woody was out of Disneyland but had no intention of leaving the amusement park business while he could have lost the hand leaving with an ace up his sleeve after his departure from Disney.

Marco Engineering would be brought in to build other theme parks in the United States. The design company was ingenious as many wealthy businessmen and real estate investors strove to copy the success of Disneyland. He would use his time at Disneyland as his main selling point and recruit many Disneyland employees. From Walt and Marco, the company's first major project came in 1957 with a park that would be called Magic Mountain in Golden Colorado. Magic Mountain was planned to be an educational theme park based on Colorado

history

with an Indian village in the western town. a futuristic Mars city and fairytale castle likely inspired by a source unrelated to Colorado

history

, the park would only be partially built and many of the original plans were scrapped after Magic Mountain Marco designed Pleasure Island in Wakefield Massachusetts, another park with more than a few similarities to Disneyland, some even calling it Northeastern Disneyland, however, the park that actually bears the Eastern Disneyland label would be Woods' next project.

Van France, who had left Disneyland to work, would once again remember finishing work on Pleasure Island. Wood from the first season had already abandoned the project to build a new park in New York. Wood told France to meet him in Manhattan when he arrived at Wood's hotel room. Would he simply point his finger at the table with a check for 13 million dollars on it? With little more than his Texan charm and Disneyland on his resume, Woody had sold a theme park to the wealthy elite of New York City, the park would be called Freedom Land USA, the goal of the park was to tell all of American history in one single appointment.

It would take a vast area shaped like the map of our country and segmented into states of around 80 acres for the US park to fit compared to Disneyland's 60 acres, knowing that it would be difficult to find much land in the densely populated New York City, would launch the project on the web and map a real estate company run by famed developer William Zeckendorf, who had invested in Magic Mountain and Pleasure Island. Zeckendorf was a titan, overseeing the largest real estate empire of the time, but not even he was immune to the allure of the forest. Webb & Knapp owned vacant land large enough to house the park and then about 205 acres of marshland in the Bronx along the Malayan bank of the Hutchinson River not used for the park would contain parking for 7,200 cars at the Freedom Park hotel land.

Zeckendorf agreed to lease the swampy parcel in the Bronx for Woods Park and Freedom Land had secured its land to recruit investors. For the project, including many of those who had invested in Pleasure Island, these investors formed a company called International Recreation Corporation or IRC, which would act as the parent company of Freedom Lands. Woods Park would cost $65 million compared to Disneyland's $17 million, this was partly because the land was expensive to rent and because construction was more expensive in New York City, but Woods' ambitions For the park, which he considered a bigger and better Disneyland, he also inflated the price: the sixty-five million dollar figure was also probably an exaggeration for promotional purposes.

The park was designed to entertain 90,000 visitors on peak days. and five million guests per year were projected the park's plan to hold an opening ceremony on July 4, 1959, but it was delayed until August 26 in September it was announced that Fred Schumacher, who would do it? Hired as an executive at Disneyland he would serve as vice president and general manager of Freedom Lands, the same roles Woody had held at Disneyland, other Disney people included Cliff Walker, the lead designer of the Jungle Cruise, who would be chief operating officer at Freedom Land, Earl Shelton. Woody's childhood friend and Disneyland site manager would be an executive at Freedom Land.

Van France would continue macro engineering training for Freedom Lands employees as he had done at Disneyland and these were just a few of the many Disneyland employees who would contribute to Freedom Land through the While the park was under construction, they were given Knowing the plans for the 1964 New York World's Fair, the fair became a finish line for the park, the team believed that the World's Fair would draw massive crowds to New York City and these crowds would likely spend a day at Freedom Land, this belief even influenced the advertising of Freedom Lands with promotion of the park implemented nationwide to familiarize the country with Freedom Land before traveling to the fair.

Freedom Land would miss its June 1 deadline. It would open a few weeks later, on June 19, 1960, as with the debut of Disneyland Freedom Lands would be chaotic the park's pavement was one of the last things to be finished in a situation similar to Disneyland in Disney Park the heels of the women's shoes sunk in asphalt The Freedom Lands situation was a little worse as the land beneath the park was a swamp and some sections of it had been used as a landfill, according to some accounts, which led to the springs of the old mattresses pushed their way across the pavement and tripped visitors.

Also parallel to Disneyland's opening day it was hot, the water fountains were not operational. and many of the attractions were cordoned off. whoever had been blamed for the failed opening of Disneyland seemed more like a common denominator than an innocent bystander; However, on opening day it managed to attract more than 60,000 people to Freedomland. New York Mayor Robert Wagner would declare June 19 Freedomland. Day after day, here comes the cavalry scene of thestrong just in time, now it may be Indian country and it may seem like the Old West, but the time is today and the place is the land of the free, a big part of entertainment in the Bronx in the state of New York. half an hour by subway from Times Square in New York City yes you would enter Freedomland as millions had done across New York the first themed section names little New York was the city of the mid to late 19th century old New York It was similar to Main Street USA and then consisted primarily of era-specific stores and transportation, the most advertised of all the stores being undoubtedly the replica of New York's first Macy's that sold toys, hats, and other souvenirs.

The main attraction of the country was the horseless carriage on old cars. ride through a mock New England countryside The development of Eero, the company that had contributed many attractions to Disneyland, was responsible for the vintage cars as well as many other Freedomland attractions, as Disneyland would recruit sponsors for many of Freedom Lands restaurants, shops and attractions that pack even more. The companies I had with Disneyland Freedom Land also featured costumed actors/trained citizens from the time periods in little old New York, a suffragette and a police officer performed and interacted with visitors after the New York section was old Chicago, unlike the broad time period of the Freedom Lands, New York area, old Chicago was established on a very specific date and time in October 1871, the Great Chicago Fire killed about 300 people and caused unfathomable damage to the city after the fire, a reporter for the Chicago Republican newspaper claimed that the fire was started in the barn of Irish immigrant Catherine O'Leary while she was milking her cow, he claimed that the cow kicked a lantern which started the A story that was soon published nationwide was accepted everywhere as the reason for the destruction fueled by anti-poverty, anti-Irish and anti-Catholic sentiments.

Forty years later, the journalist admitted that he and two of his co-workers had made the story is up for debate, which is more shameful than that these people would ruin the reputation and life of an innocent woman to sell some newspapers or make themselves known. It took three people to make up a story in which a cow kicks a lantern regardless O' Leary, who supposedly died of a broken heart in 1895 and the cow who died probably inadvertently on an unreported date, were absolved of all blame , but that didn't stop Freedom Land USA, a park that boasted authenticity in every detail, from continuing to point the finger at O.'Leary—in fact, visitors to Freedom Land could literally point at O'Leary the cow , since they appeared in the old Chicago area as traveling characters.

The Chicago fire itself was also recreated. The pamphlet said that the great Chicago fire was a disaster today. spectacular entertainment fire once every 20 minutes a controlled fire was started in a group of buildings and the fire truck with hand pump was deployed children were encouraged to help pump the water to put out the flames also an old Chicago era the Greats Lagos a man-built waterway in which a sternwheel boat and tugboat took visitors on a scenic tour with bands on board to guide them in songs. There was also a station for the Parks Railroad (the Santa Fe Railroad) based on the real-life railroad that Woods' father had worked on.

After old Chicago was the Great Plains, set between 1803 and 1900, this area featured Fort Calvary, a log stockade straight from the quote from the days of Indian fighting in the interior, visitors could learn to dance on gang and tie up while watching the bandits being caught loaded and even attending their funeral afterwards. They were hung in an Indian village originally located in old Chicago and eventually moved to this area and the biggest attraction of the land was the stagecoach that gave us a tour of the planes and even crossed a river after the Great Plains with San Francisco.

In one specific year, 1906, the year of the great earthquake, in another disaster-turned-spectacle, the area's main attraction would be the Earthquake, a dark ride that took visitors through the streets of San Francisco during the earthquake that killed more of 3,000 people, buildings collapsed, houses slid and fires broke out as the dark journey progressed. San Francisco also had a stop for the Santa Fe Railroad. The area's other main attraction was the Jungle Cruise equivalent of the Northwest Fur Trapper Freedom Land, which took visitors on a fur trapping trip throughout the Northwest. Pacific, where At this point in the guests' journey to Freedomland, they would have to avoid collapsing bridges, mountain lion attacks, and an ambush by Totem Indians.

Some might have noted a slight slant in the park's narrative, while the Indian Village would feature proven Penobscot members as Northwest actors. The fur trapper ride, the harbor cavalry, and the stagecoach ride would refer to or depict the indigenous people as aggressors while depicting the Pioneers as tough heroes. This Western aesthetic was popularized decades earlier by Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show and Freedom Land would feature a train actress Annie Oakley Buffalo. Bill's famous sniper, Freedomland, marketed itself as edutainment, but in reality his focus was much more on unbridled patriotism than even Disneyland featured. The land of the free was the bedroom where Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty made Yankee Doodle Dandy. more evident than in the park's mascot, Johnny's fictional freedom, said to be a representative quote of the American spirit of hard work and ingenuity after San Francisco was the old Southwest, set in 1890, combining three Southwestern cities , Tucson's headstone in Santa Fe in a themed attraction area. included the Tucson mining company Sky Ride Casa loca, a leaning house, mining caverns, a two-story dark ride that took us on a journey through an old mine and the Santa Fe Opera and saloon that featured western shows When the Santa Fe Railroad passed through the old Southwestern bandits often robbed the train.

Gus could also send themselves a letter while in the Great Plains that a Pony Express passenger would deliver to a post office in the old Southwest after the old Southwest was New Orleans, where every day was Mardi Gras New. Orleans featured multiple dark attractions, including Buccaneers, a dark attraction that took guests in a car dressed as a pirate ship through multiple pirate scenes and even an encounter with a sea serpent. It is suspected that one of Marco Engineering's former Disneyland employees found out. Walt's concept for a pirate ride attraction is theorized that the success of the Buccaneers influenced the decision to change Disneyland's pirate wax museum ride into a dark ride.

Another natural disaster dark ride called a tornado took visitors on a car ride during a violent tornado that destroyed a Civil War family farm took visitors on wagons through a reenactment of famous war scenes using primitive animated figures . This was one of the park's most popular attractions and was created partially to take advantage of the Civil War Centennial that would be celebrated beginning in 1961. Until 1965, New Orleans also featured a Danny Narrow development, the Dragon Ride, as well as the King Rex carousel. The area was often known as the free lands, fantasy land, equivalent to the seventh and final free land, the land was a satellite city labeled as the future, the brochure said. cite Freedom Land has taken you on a tour of America's past in a satellite city, you can step right into its future.

This space age land was geographically located in Freedom Lands, Florida, and many of the attractions were tied to the rocket launch site at Cape Canaveral attractions. included the takeoff bunker an educational tour of a Cape Canaveral control room with a simulated launch sequence a moving sidewalk and satellite city Turnpike a sports car ride for kids showing the future of highways similar to Disneyland The most popular attraction surprising part of the satellite city of Zootopia was the trademark of the space rover, a flight simulator that was a combination of Disneyland's rocket to the moon and Sir Kurama's attractions that gave visitors views from above of the Earth, specifically America of the South and the United States, the show building looked like a huge UFO straight out of the movies of the time.

It also had its own soundtrack with arrangements and original songs for each land. Freedom Land with its seven themed areas and over 40 attractions was impressive, while clearly following the Disneyland model, there were many unique and innovative experiences that set Freedomland apart from the rest, the main difference in its scale was Wood's attention to detail. He brought the philosophy he had while he was with him at Disneyland to Freedom Land. He believed that park visitors focused on the big picture and not the small details, so while Freedom Land was larger than Disneyland, it lacked the depth that came from Walt's perfectionist nature and the talent of his artists, but perhaps they would not have been completely wrong, as many visitors who had visited both parks believed that Freedom Land was as good, if not better, than Disneyland.

Freedom Lands seemed well positioned to be a success. He had a lot to offer. space and promotion of the attractions, but there was one major problem that the park would face: it would have to operate seasonally due to the weather and leisure habits of New York, it was decided to operate Freedom Land from June to October of each year, this meant that for To break even, Freedom Land would need to attract 2 million visitors in its first season, although the team was aiming for 4.5 million, this was going to be difficult. Many, including Walt Disney himself, were unsure that East Coast audiences would be as receptive to Disneyland-type parks as the West.

Coast had been a gamble, perhaps Woods's biggest yet, but if it failed, the main burden would fall on his investors for now, although the future of Freedom Lands was bright, there would be some widely publicized incidents in the first months of operation, right after opening. One of the stagecoaches overturned when the horses were scared by the train's whistle 10 people, including three children, were injured two were hospitalized On August 27, one more robbery than planned was carried out in the park when three men attacked the Center of Real cash control was identified shortly after one of the thieves read in the newspaper that they had stolen a total of $28,000 when he had only received $5,000 after doing the math.

He was so angry that he turned himself and the other two into the police in the final weeks of Reports from the first season of Freedom Lands began to emerge detailing the park's financial problems, apparently even before the park opened, the lumber company had run out of money by offering Webb & Knapp shares in the park instead of paying rent, which ii The Orphic greed of financial problems continued as construction costs rose and some major investors pulled out to complement this. Zeckendorf soon increased his stake. Zeckendorf became a majority shareholder owning 40% of IRC. Zeckendorf stepped in and began operating the park, driving out many of Woods' men, including Fred Schumacher, in the final weeks before Freedomland.

Closed for the season, hours of operation were changed to weekends, leaving only many weekday visitors confused when they arrived at the park closed for a quarter. They were invited to tour the non-operational grounds. October 30, 1960 would be the last day of Freedom Lands' first operational season. the park had only managed to attract 1.5 million visitors, missing the needed number by half a million and falling well short of its goal of 4.5 million at the time. Wood and Marco had moved on to their next project, a new park called Six Flags Over Texas to open in Arlington the following year, this left Zeckendorf with the keys to a bankrupt park atop his lucrative land.

The only way out he could see was to invest more in the project to add live entertainment venues, the Hollywood Arena in the San Francisco section and the Moon Bowl in the satellite city, however, financial problems continued to mount. Zeckendorf was already having difficulty maintaining the website and applications. The real estate empire andFreedomlands were still a money pit, but he hoped to turn things around with the World's Fair. With just three seasons away, perhaps the park could turn a profit, but in a second, Dorf tried every trick he knew, including restructuring assets between his companies to flow as much cash as possible to Freedomland. .

Ambitious plans for a land of the free were scrapped and cheap diversions were added. In an attempt to make a few quick dollars, nothing seemed to work and the park continued to lose money after the 1962 season. The tornado darkride was sold to Kennywood in Pennsylvania and other attractions were put up for sale. Webb & Knapp began auctioning off the unused land surrounding Freedom Land as the Zeckendorf Empire continued to crumble. Zeckendorf attempted to extend Freedom Lands' operating season opening to the end of April for the 1963 season and even considering holding Christmas and winter activities, These would not materialize on May 16, 1964, Freedom Land would open for the fifth time.

As the season opener approached, a rumor circulated that Freedom Land might be sold and moved to Florida, although park officials stated that they were optimistic about its future in New York, especially since the World's Fair had opened. the previous month in July. It was reported that Zeckendorf and Webb & Knapp had given up their majority stake in the National Development Company, which had managed the land under Freedom Land, in addition to selling their shares in IRC, both companies would be taken over by long-term collaborator Zeckendorf. and president of the National Development Society, Hyman Green. Green was confident that with both the park and the land under his control he could save Freedom Land again, citing the crowds that attended the New York World's Fair; however, his trust was lost on September 13, 1964.

Freedom Land closes its doors for the season the next day. declared bankruptcy, the park was said to be twenty-seven million dollars in debt. Hyman and Zeckendorf believed they could sell off a large portion of the Liberty land by reducing the size of the theme park from its original 85 acres to just 30, but this never happened. Closed forever, most of the park's attractions would be sold and relocated to other parks around the country, notably the Earthquake and the Buccaneers, which would be moved to Cedar Point in Sandusky Ohio (the latter would be renamed the pirate attraction). Zeckendorf would admit that the land of the free had been one of the biggest failures of the web and apps came at the worst possible time for the company.

His empire, which once had over $300 million in real estate, was no more and Freedom Land would forever be cited as one of the main reasons there was a silver lining to the land. The land of liberty was still valuable and would be sold to the United Housing Foundation, which on February 9, 1965 would announce its plans for the world's largest housing development to be called Cooperative City. The $300 million project would see high-rise residential buildings. on the land where Freedom Land once stood, the cooperative town still remains today and a portion of the land is still technically zoned for entertainment operations.

The rapid demise of Freedom Land left many wondering what happened, how could such a great Hark fail so quickly? The factors were the park's high construction costs and its seasonal operating schedule, both of which limited the park's success before opening day. However, this does not explain why Freedomland did not meet its attendance projections. These may have been inflated to begin with, but many speculate that the Freedom Lands model was already outdated by the time the park opened. It could have been a bigger, better Disneyland, but it was a better version of the original 1955 Disneyland. By 1959, Disneyland had added three groundbreaking attractions and amusement parks across the country began adding large thrill rides, of which The Land of the Free had nothing that could have hurt the park's popularity.

The Most Compelling Theory About The park's demise comes from historian and Freedom Land author Michael Virgin. In a 1970 newspaper article, Zeckendorf claimed that citing Freedom Land was a device to conserve the land and that it was sensible to suggest that the park was always intended to be temporary. Many uncertainties remain, in part because Zeckendorf himself has given conflicting accounts about his involvement in the park. but there is evidence to suggest that at some point in the lifespan of Freedom Lands, possibly even from its inception, the cooperative city was planned and, if this is the case, then more than a second Dorf would be to blame for the failure of Freedom Lands , part of the blame. would fall to urban planner Robert Moses, who helped develop Co-op City as part of his housing renewal strategy for the city.

It was reported that the construction of Co-op City was the fulfillment of a dream of Moses, perhaps if the park had turned out to be more profitable. In its first seasons it could have lasted longer but in the end the largest entertainment center in the world lasted just five seasons, however, that was all the time it needed to leave a lasting impression on its visitors, many of whom fondly remember its journey into the country's past through the lens of the land of the free USA at this point in the late 60's CV wood was into other ambitious projects and continued to play the same game he had always played, finding success in the most unlikely places in everything from chili cook-offs to African diamond mines in 1968, he was somehow able to convince the City of London to let him buy the famous London Bridge, dismantle it and move it to Arizona, a bet that only Woody could see through what he supposedly never felt: the land of the free was completely finished and he believed that financial problems from the beginning prevented it from becoming the park he had originally envisioned, while many of the partners Woods commercials, such as Van France, would return to work at Disneyland.

Walton Woody never reconciled his differences after his departure from Disneyland, his mutual dislike. He only grew up during the construction of Freedomland Wood advertising himself as the master builder of Disneyland, hinting to his investors that he had played a role in the design of Walt's Park. Walt soon found out about this and would take Wood to court over the matter and ask him to stop hinting. Although he participated in the park's design, Wood would stop promoting himself as Disneyland's master builder, at least publicly, as a result of the lawsuit. This is also rumored to have led to Wood leaving the amusement park industry after consulting at Six Flags Over Texas.

Walt's supposedly even had something to do with Freedom Land's failure after filing for bankruptcy. Freedom Land would cite a key reason for its failure. I wouldn't blame the expensive seasonal construction operating schedule or even the lack of thrill rides for its demise; Instead, I would blame. The 1964 New York World's Fair, the same fair that the Freedom Land team hoped would save the park, quickly became the excuse for its inability to draw crowds in its final operating season. The official reason was the fair, the fair that had been built by New York's infamous master builder, Robert Moses, and which had been populated with innovative attractions by Walt Disney.