Rhode Island may not have any amusement parks in operation today, but many years ago, the Ocean State was full of them, from Crescent Point to The Enchanted Forest to Rocky Point Amusement Park.
Theme parks were a historic Rhode Island tradition, full of attractions like carousels, Ferris wheels and of course, plenty of historic roller coasters. In fact, the very first roller coaster in the state dates all the way back to 1872, when Rocky Point first opened an “inclined railway.”
Here’s a brief history of the first roller coaster in Rhode Island.
History of RI’s inclined railway
1904: Rocky Point Amusement Park This picture shows a crowd landing from one of the bay steamers.
According to George LaCross, volunteer at Rocky Point State Park, Rocky Point’s first ever roller coaster was installed by the American Inclined Railroad Company in the spring of 1872.
The decision to construct an “inclined railway” at the park was confirmed in a Providence Evening Press issue from May 20, 1872. At the time the coaster opened, it only cost 10 cents to ride.
In June that same year, the Press described riding on the coaster as very safe as enjoyable, saying the 400-feet ride started with a push of the coaster car, which would ride to the bottom of the track before coming back up to the platform on a separate track.
The inclined railway was later demolished to become a Figure 8 coaster named the Toboggan, though the Scenic Railway, a more advanced railway coaster of the same idea, was added to the park in the 1910s.
Rocky Point Amusement Park closed in 1994, with all the rides sold and demolished. Today, the old grounds of Rocky Point – and Rhode Island’s first roller coaster – stand as Rocky Point State Park, which can be visited daily from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. at 1 Rocky Point Ave. in Warwick.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: What was RI’s first roller coaster? It was at Rocky Point
