Leap-The-Dips Roller Coaster
Logan Township, Blair County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Built here in 1902 by E. Joy Morris of Philadelphia, it was among some 250 side-friction figure eight roller coasters in North America. It became the last known ride of this type and the world's oldest known operating roller coaster. A National Historic Landmark.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Built in 1902 by Philadelphia's E. Joy Morris, Leap-The-Dips is a side-friction figure-eight coaster from the dawn of the American amusement-park era, when hundreds of such wooden rides thrilled crowds at trolley parks nationwide. As tastes changed and the others were torn down, this one at Lakemont Park endured to become the last of its kind and the world's oldest known operating roller coaster. It carries National Historic Landmark status.
Why it matters
It is a rare surviving artifact of turn-of-the-century leisure and ride engineering, preserving a form of amusement that once defined the American summer.
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Related people
- ¡ E. Joy Morris
Themes & tags
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