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Not long after people first arrived in the Salt Lake valley it was discovered that the salt content in the lake would cause swimmers to float like a cork.
Numerous bathing resorts soon popped up on the shores of the lake to capitalize on this strange phenomenon.
In 1886 a new resort was opened on the eastern shore of the lake. The resort was known as "Lake Park". The centerpiece of Lake Park was it's open air dancing pavilion.
Lake Park was considered to be the best bathing resort on the lake.
Lake Park flourished until 1893, when the waters of the Great Salt Lake receded. Lake Park was no longer A resort on the lake, but a resort on the mud. The owners were forced to close the park. The park sat vacant for the next three years. In 1896 the entire resort, including it's dancing pavilion, was moved several miles to the east and a new park, "Lagoon" was born. |
Lake Park resort and dancing pavilion.
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Old Shoot the Chutes ride at Lagoon.
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As soon as Lagoon opened it was faced with fierce competition from the new LDS church owned Saltair bathing resort.
Lagoon built a Shoot the Chutes attraction and offered swimming in filtered water (instead of the foul smelling Salt Lake) to help draw the crowds away from Saltair.
The competition forced Lagoon to grow rapidly, they added new gardens, swimming pools and colored lights. In 1921 the Roller Coaster was added to compete with Saltair's new Giant Racer.
The park continued to grow for several years, a fun house, indoor dance hall and mechanical rides were added. Then, in 1953 fire broke out. The fun house and dance hall were destroyed and the roller coaster was damaged. Luckily, Lagoon took little time in rebuilding and improving the park. In 1957, when Saltair's 110 foot Giant Racer roller coaster was blown down in a 75mph wind gust, the resort could not afford to rebuild it. The 1958 season was one of the worst financial years Saltair had faced. The resort was forced to close it's doors in 1959. |
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In the 60's and 70's Lagoon was the main concert venue in Utah. All the big name bands would perform and then go enjoy the rides. The Beach Boys liked Lagoon so much that they wrote a song about it.
Jim Morrison, on the other hand refused to ride anything.
In 1972 the parks midway games manager, Nolan Bushnell had a vision of a whole new kind of attraction. He went on to invent the world's first digital video game; Pong. In 1987 Lagoon celebrated its 100th birthday with the addition of the Centennial Screamer. I am unsure what made Lagoon feel that it's 100th birthday took place in 1987, as Lake park opened in 1886 and Lagoon opened in 1893. Tragically, in 1989 Lagoon had two deaths on their rides. One on the Roller Coaster and one on Puff. These are the only two guests that have ever died on rides at Lagoon |
The building that currently houses Dracula's Castle and the prize center was one of Utah's biggest concert venues in the late 60's.
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The Lake park terrace in the 1980's. It is now used as a picnic area.
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In the late 80's and early 90's Lagoon closed the beloved Fun House and Wooden Wild Mouse. It was not doing to well in replacing them with exciting new rides either.
One year the new attraction for the park was the Hydro-Luge waterslide, despite the fact Lagoon-A-Beach waterpark was opened just a few years before. Another year Lagoon boasted pig races in Pioneer Village.
The park began adding new large rides again in the late 90's. Between 1997 and 2000 it added: Rattlesnake Rapids, Top Eliminator Dragsters (up-charge), the new Wild Mouse (In the same spot as the old one), The Rocket, Double Thunder raceway (up-charge), and the Samurai. |
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This web site has no affiliation with Lagoon Amusement Park, Lagoon Corp. or anybody else. All information contained within is posted for entertainment purposes only. |
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