Park.
Since summertime is the time for picnics, outings, and day trips, I thought I would select this image from my collection as this month’s story behind the photo. The image was taken at Norwood Park in Nutter Fort, which is now part of Clarksburg City Parks.
My great grandmother, Cora (Hogue) Nay, is shown in the left foreground. I’m guessing she was 12 or 14 years old here. Having been born in 1906, this would make the photograph taken between 1918 and 1920. The image was snapped just as she was taking a bite to eat.
To the right of her is her friend, Genevieve Robinson, and the remaining members are John Ford and his family. Today, it would be a rare sight to see a similar group of people— many of which are in light colored dress clothes— spread out a blanket on high grass and sit to have a picnic, but that’s exactly what is depicted in this image.
While the photo itself is interesting, it’s actually the background of the photo that’s this month story. Several years ago,I saw a post on Facebook that questioned a park in Nutter Fort. Of course several people were commenting about Norwood Park and the different experiences they had there over the years. I made a comment that in its early years, the park had a roller coaster.
There was immediate rebuttal by several people, claiming that I didn’t know what I was talking about and that Norwood Park never had a roller coaster. In addition to laughing reactions, I received comments such as, “I guarantee you that there was never a roller coaster at Norwood Park”, “No one around Clarksburg ever had a roller coaster”, “I’m 72 years old, lived here all of my life, and I know there’s never been a roller coaster around here.” I immediately remembered why I hate to comment on social media posts… the “know it alls” are always in full force!
I never questioned the thought of a roller coaster at Norwood Park because during my teenage years when I started taking an interest in photographs, I clearly remember showing this photograph to my great grandmother and asking her who the people were. She pointed herself out, along with the other people, and then pointed to that roller coaster in the back and said that the photo was taken at Norwood Park. She said they used to have a roller coaster and they would spend time at that park, sometimes on Sunday afternoons, ride the roller coaster, and picnic there. So for someone to say that I didn’t know what I was talking about, it made me remember why I do not like commenting on posts on Facebook.
As a rebuttal back to the people who were telling me that I didn’t know what I was talking about, I got this photograph out, scanned it, and uploaded it to the post so that people could see the image. I do wish the photo had been taken where it could show more of the roller coaster itself, but the interest at the time was to capture the group, not the scenery. In a world full of people who rarely admit their wrongs, I did NOT receive any responses from the ones who told me I didn’t know what I was talking about. I did, however, intrigue the interest of others, which is what I like about history. One gentleman did some research of his own and found a newspaper article from April 1916 that headlined, “Roller Coaster to be built at Norwood Park.” One woman found an article from July 1916 that mentioned the roller coaster was completed and would be in operation all day for July 4th activities of that year.
One of the articles stated the roller coaster had two trains of three cars each. Each car must have held six people because the article further stated that the ride could carry 36 people. Further information on the ride stated that it traveled over seventeen hundred feet and had a dip of forty-five feet. It cost $15,000 to build, which is equivalent to over $450,000 today. I don’t know what year the ride was dismantled, but it was already gone by the onset of the Second World War.
Other attractions at the park in its early years included a merry-go-round, ferris wheel, along with a shooting gallery, pool room, box ball alley, and bowling alley. There was also a grandstand built where 1,000 patrons could watch horse races, as well as motorcycle races. Again, keep in mind, these are all attractions found from a 1916 newspaper!
History isn’t just what you know and what you’ve experienced (as proven from the people who told me there was never a roller coaster at Norwood Park), but history is more about adding a link to the old chain and the new chain…making connections so that history doesn’t get lost. I’ve always said that history can only be appreciated by someone who is willing to listen. And I’ve listened to the stories from countless elderly people throughout my life. Someone would have eventually come across newspaper articles or maybe even another photograph that captured a better view of the roller coaster, but I captured the mind and memory of a woman who told me her first hand experience of being there.
And that is this month’s story behind the photo!
