Riverview Remembered by WGN

[Nintenkid91]

My mom always talks about this place.

[darthstarkiller1912]

0:34 Does anyone know what coaster that was?

[DABEARS1088]

WOW. what great memories.

[starguard]

Where RiverView once stood now stands DeVry Institute of Technology. We also had another lesser known Amusement park named FunTown that stood on 95th Stony Island Ave. Sadly thats gone now too. :-(

Chicago is Slowly Dying!

[ItsMesVideos]

@starguard I recall Fun Town my cousin operated the kiddie farris wheel a few seasons.

[loveunderlaw]

So sad that America doesn't value it's past :(

[PeterMayer]

I remember the commercials, but we moved to Detroit in 67. My older brothers never took me there.

[ammisty]

when i grow up i lve down the street today i still miss it 6 18 2011 i stiil think being summer I'll die in my heart the good times

[1974Flyingsub]

Hi, I'm from Saint Louis, Mo. Our BELOVED HIGHLAND'S went up in flames in July of 1963. An ACCIDENTAL FIRE.. SO IT WAS SEND TO HAVE BEEN! My HEART GOES OUT TO CHICAGO AND IT'S PEOPLE FOR THE LOSS, so many years ago OF THEIR HISTORIC RIVERVIEW PARK!

BUT WHAT HAPPENED?? WHY...WHY, WHAT WAS THE REASON FOR THIS? DOSE ANYONE HAVE AN ANSWER TO WY IT WAS DISTROYED??

[pinheadq41]

@1974Flyingsub The problem was that there was increased trouble with gangs hanging around the parking lots and preventing people from going into the park. It got real bad those last few years and no one could stop it. So people stopped going because they didn't want any trouble, business fell off and it was easier to just sell off the property than fix the problem. I'll always remember my aunt taking me on the coasters because my mom could not stand heights. Both are gone on and so is Riverview.

[mentalpatientinwait]

Omly went once. as a kid. I remember The Flying Turns. I screamed the whole way down as I was sure I was going to fall through the front of the ride. No seat belts then. To Ed Fruh, you did an excellent job on those models. I saw them many times.

[143AC]

I'm glad that Mr.Brodeen gave up sword swallowing and fire eating and became a magician.

[loriloristuff]

My uncle snuck us there, but my mother would not let us go there. I did go to high school next door, and learned to drive on the parking lot that remained.

[OLDMUSCLE]

cdjblue52, your memories of Riverview are synonymous with mine. It was such an amazing part of my childhood. I was 10 or 11 or so when it closed and I remember crying my eyes out. I've been to many amusement parks since then in my life but not a single one compares to Riverview. Those who never experienced it will never know what an amazing place they missed. Those who did will never forget it as long as we live!

[soxbearshwks]

what a great amusement park, we were lucky we grew up at that time, 2cent days,

as a kid i only rode the Bobs once, scared the livin crap out of me....great memories

[sunnychic2007]

When was it closed?

[matrix2004]

This was before my time but i wish it was still there. Its kind of erie when the carnival sets up there in the Summer.

[fnell1959]

I am a fan of old stuff I do remember Riverview and Funtown and Old Chicago which were very fun places to go for exticement. I miss all the fun in Chicago when I was a young kid now I am in my early 50's Thanks for the video

[33Keith33]

This makes me think of Pontchartrain Beach in New Orleans. It was family owned for decades and then it was closed in 1983 to make way for condominiums. The condos were never built and the space is still empty after all these years. What a waste.

[RENTAMOB1]

what a keeper...

[AtlantaGymFan]

Wow, I remember waiting all year for summer when my dad would take me and a friend to Riverview! The rides were thrilling and I cannnot believe it's gone - what great memories!

[maxlimbo007]

I visited as a cub scout in 1964.... First experience of an actual freak show! Been interested in Freaks since hten...

Fond memories...also Alladin's Castle was great.

should have been considered a national landmark!

[CateDiva]

There is a shopping center there, now. Riiverview Shopping Center, or something like that. It's really sad.

[Synthetrix]

What a great old place that was.

[Attywab]

What great memories I had of Riverview as a child growing up in Chicago! Two Ton Baker was the spokesman on commercials.

[XpeacexluvxjonasX]

My parents, aunts, and cousins always talk anout Riverview. It sounded like such a great place, so sad that I wasn't around for it's excitement and fun. I suppose Riverview is like Kiddieland for me. I was broken when they said it was closing!

[hockeygod1112]

my grandfather always tells me stories of this place from when he was a child

[cgsilverscreen2020]

@hockeygod1112 same. My grandmother lost her shoe on the parachutes xD

[ItsMesVideos]

@cgsilverscreen2020 My Granny lost her virginity in the Tunnel of Love. lol

[LIFESEXDEATH]

The late Mayor Richard J. Daley was the one who ordered Riverview closed, property condemned, torn down and then sold for some incredible lowbid to his cronies, for them to develop. Gee...isn't his kid doing the same thing all over the city right now ? Miegs field anyone ? If anyone is to blame for the destruction of Riverview its that son of a bitch.

[harveysuperboy]

@LIFESEXDEATH Yes he is.

[Rocketjay12]

I was a freshman in highschool at Lane Tech the year before Riverview was torn down. I rememebr sitting in my fourth floor Biology class and watching the roller coaster(I think it was the "Bobs") and listening to people scream as they went over the top. Our teacher would threaten to close the windows if we didn't stop paying more attention to the sounds from Riverview than her.

[cdjblue52]

Mama saved every year to take us to Riverview. I was 14 when it closed and me and Mama were so hurt. We loved the bobs, the fireball, Aladdin's Castle, the Wild Mouse, the Chutes....I can go on and on. The expressways weren't built yet (or Mama didn't know how to use them yet) so the trip to Riverview from the Southside was I guess 45" or so...and of course we would anxiously ask.."are we almost there"....and then we would see it...the top of the parachute!!!....boy oh boy..what memories.

[circa1960]

We used to go their every year too. They tore it down when I was seven. What I remember the most is the tunnel of love!!! Why, I have no idea! That was really a great amusement park.

[bsbob52]

Best place I was ever at in my life ! We used to go every summer.

[kaiserdink]

Went to find those remnants today and they exist in a small wooded area behind DeVry Institute called Clark woods. You can see whats left of the water ride and the midway in the woods. Someone also built a cool BMX bike track back there. Wish I was around to visit Riverview in its hayday!

[kaunasprince]

It was a huge loss to Chicago culture.For people of my generation it's demise is unforgivable.

[pilotgirl27]

I never got to see Riverview. It closed 13 years (almost to the day) before I was born.

[circa1960]

I have some color slides we took back in the 60's of parts of Riverview that I haven't seen anywhere. We used to go there every year until it closed in 67.

[isp10man]

wow, i live around there, but i never got a chance to see it... my school teacher told the class alot of stories about riverview!

[datu52]

"Laugh your troubles away!" That was the tag line from the ad which always ran on the Garfield Goose show. In the 80s my friends and I flew RC helicopters in the park along the river, on Rockwell south of McDonald's and the insurance office. I rode the Wild Mouse twice in Riverview's last season. When I was a young boy my mom carried me out of Aladdin's Castle with a sweater over my head, so distressed and scared was I.

[tss77]

God Bless Riverview I will never forget that park so long as I live.

[jnartist]

I sooo miss Riverview. So many memories. The sideshow act would give me nightmares. I didn't know bozo's wizzo got his start there. Pretty cool. I remember my father trying to sneak my twin sister and I on the Italian Bobs. I think you had to be 7. We were 6. My friend Brenda used to roller skate in Riverview with her cousin Jeri. Fun times.....

[iijjllss1]

i worked on the chute the chutes in 1961 great summer rudder came off boat as it hit the water on second bounce and stuck in water stopping boat immediatly few injuries i stayed with the boat until being towed in to dock the captain who didnt go down with the boat pete lodato

[TigrisKhan]

"FunTown, FunTown

for the kid in you!

95th and Stony Island Avenue.

FunTown!"

No, I never had the pleasure of going to FunTown-I DID go to Old Chicago Indoor Park-while it was running.

My wife just drove me CRAZY with that jingle.

[lusciouslady73]

Does anyone remember the amusement park on the southside on 95th and stony island? i think it was called funtown.......anyone have any links to that?

[brunotaddeo]

wasn't it called kiddyland ? or was that another one ?

[swschu]

Kiddyland was on 95th but west of Cicero.

[sugarbear522]

It was called Fun Town (95th & Stony Island). I went there once when I was a kid. I liked Old Chicago too (kindergarten field trip), but never went to Riverview (was torn down 8 years before I was born).

[Philtration]

I was lucky enough to go the last two seasons and it was great!

My oldest brother went to Lane Tech while the park was still open and that had to be tempting to cut class and walk over to the park.

[oakandwillow]

I went in the last couple of years it was open... I think it would be cool to try to re-build it... If not at the original location, then maybe at a pier on the lakefront... Lakeview, anyone???

[TimelordR]

I was very fortunate to have been there with my father & older brother in the Summer of 1967 before its eventual extinction.

Good times...

[loriloristuff]

I used to walk all over the Riverview site when I went to Lane Tech in the early 1970s- Of course, the Riverview site was flat and being paved into DeVry and the "cop shop".

[dmccoig]

Noooo, Not Riverview!