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Bear Cat
Wood at Sans Souci Park, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Opened 1928, closed 1970.
This ride has closed. It last operated at Sans Souci Park in 1970.
- Height
- 80 ft
- Drop
- n/a
- Top speed
- 50 mph
- Length
- n/a
- Inversions
- 0
- Ride time
- n/a
- Designer
- Philadelphia Toboggan Company (Herbert Paul Schmeck)
Bear Cat was a wooden roller coaster at Sans Souci Park in Hanover Township, Pennsylvania. The Philadelphia Toboggan Company built it in 1928 as its coaster number 70, to a design by Herbert Paul Schmeck. RCDB lists it at 80 feet tall with a top speed of 50 mph and no inversions.
History
Sans Souci Park dated to 1880, when the grounds were known as Hanover Grove. They became Hanover Park in 1893 and carried the Sans Souci name from 1905. Before Bear Cat, the park had the Ariel Railway coaster, which ran from 1905 to 1927, and it added a steel Wild Mouse coaster in 1958.
Bear Cat operated until 1970, the year Sans Souci Park closed, and the coaster was later removed. The Hanover Area Junior-Senior High School now stands where the park was. When the Times Leader looked back at the park in 1996, rides on the Bear Cat were one of the memories it highlighted.
Sources
- rcdb.com/3095.htm (Bear Cat at Sans Souci Park, Hanover Township, PA; wood; Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters serial number 70; designer Herbert Paul Schmeck; height 80 ft, speed 50 mph, 0 inversions; operated 1928 to 1970; removed)
- rcdb.com/5741.htm (Sans Souci Park operated 1880-1970; former names Hanover Grove (1880-1892) and Hanover Park (1893-1904); Ariel Railway 1905-1927; Wild Mouse 1958-1970; Hanover Area Junior-Senior High School now on the site)
- archive.timesleader.com/article/888273/for-generations-sans-... (Times Leader, May 5, 1996: headline recalling rides on the Bear Cat at Sans Souci Park)
Numbers are from the ride's manufacturer and park where published; "n/a" means we have not confirmed that number yet. Spotted an error? Tell us.