Hillcrest Park
Hillcrest Park has closed (last season: 2003). This page covers its history and the rides it had.
- Location
- Lemont, Illinois
- Closed
- 2003
- Rides listed
- 0
Rides it had
No rides listed for Hillcrest Park yet.
Hillcrest Park closed in 2003. Its last outing was held on September 1, its rides and equipment were auctioned on October 25, 2003, and the land was sold for a warehouse.
Hillcrest Park was a private picnic park on South Joliet Road in Lemont, Illinois. RCDB describes it as a 58.8-acre grounds that hosted company outings, with groups of about 200 guests on weekdays and up to 2,500 on weekends. Its best-known ride was the Little Dipper, a small wooden roller coaster.
History
According to RCDB, the land was purchased in 1951. The Little Dipper, a Philadelphia Toboggan Company Junior Coaster designed by Herbert Paul Schmeck, first operated at Kiddytown in Norridge, Illinois. Hillcrest bought it in 1966 for $6,000, spent $66,000 to move it, and reopened it in 1967. RCDB lists the coaster at 28 feet tall with 900 feet of track and no inversions.
The park closed in 2003. RCDB attributes the closure to a decline in corporate outings combined with the rising value of the land. The last outing was held on September 1, the rides and equipment were auctioned on October 25, 2003, and the land was sold to developers for a warehouse.
Little Amerricka, an amusement park in Marshall, Wisconsin, bought the Little Dipper at the auction for $9,000. It was rebuilt there and opened to the public as Meteor in 2007.
Sources
- rcdb.com/4613.htm (RCDB: Hillcrest Park, 11335 South Joliet Road, Lemont, Illinois; defunct (operating dates left blank); 58.8-acre private picnic park, about 200 guests weekdays and up to 2,500 weekends; land purchased in 1951 from Peabody; later owned by Rick Barry's father; closure due to decline of corporate outings and rising land value; last outing September 1; rides and equipment auctioned October 25; land sold to developers for a warehouse; one coaster, Little Dipper.)
- rcdb.com/327.htm (RCDB: Little Dipper at Hillcrest Park, removed; wood family sit-down; Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters Junior Coaster, serial 120; designer Herbert Paul Schmeck; 900 ft, 28 ft, 0 inversions, 0:50; relocations Kiddytown, Hillcrest Park, Little Amerricka (as Meteor); bought by Hillcrest in 1966 for $6,000, moved for $66,000, reopened 1967.)
- rcdb.com/2571.htm (Little Dipper's earlier location: Kiddytown, Norridge, Illinois; later relocations to Hillcrest Park and Little Amerricka (as Meteor).)
- rcdb.com/2570.htm (RCDB: Meteor at Little Amerricka, operating; purchased at Hillcrest Park's auction for $9,000 on 10/25/2003 (confirms the 2003 closing year and auction date).)
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Amerricka (Meteor ran at Hillcrest Park until 2003, was bought by Little Amerricka in 2003 and opened there in 2007.)