New Orleans History -- Lake Pontchartrain
Wednesday, October 09, 2024
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In May of 1907 Charles C. Mathews opened an amusement park here in the City of New Orleans.

The name of the Place was White City and it was located at Tulane Avenue and South Carrollton Avenue from 1907 till about 1914 when it was replaced by Heinemann Baseball Park (Later Pelican Park).

The following image is a page from Leonard V. Huber's book, 'New Orleans, A Pictorial History':



I'm studying those websites and the Google search on 'White City Amusement Park'. Seems that this was a theme park in several cities way back then featuring bright lights, broad walks, grand opera, wet areas and more in the Beaux Arts architectural style of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago's Jackson Park.

Yeah, while Ah was googlin faw da ansuh Ah found da pawk in Chicago and it had a lot of the same rides and attractions as the one in N.O.
Mr. Lake

Here's a website concerning a White City Amusement Park in Chicago at the turn of the century http://www.suba.com/~scottn/explore/sites/parks/w_city.htm

This was certainly on a much grander scale than Mathews' was, but surely he utilized the incandescent lighting scheme that highlighted Chicago's Park and that of the Columbian Exposition.