This promotional video provides a rare glimpse at Freedomland USA, New York City’s short-lived and largely forgotten answer to Disneyland that closed 50 years ago this summer.
Cornelius Vanderbilt Wood, who had been involved in designing Walt Disney’s original theme park in California, was the mastermind behind this even bigger and more elaborate 85-acre park in The Bronx, built at a reported cost of $65 million.
Shaped like the United States, Freedomland was divided into geographical sections, including “Little Old New York,’’ Chicago at the time of the 1871 fire — recreated on an hourly schedule; San Francisco at the time of the 1906 earthquake; New Orleans; and “Satellite City — The Future.’’
Freedomland ran into problems almost immediately after its 1960 opening, with 10 people injured when a covered-wagon ride overturned. Walt Disney, who was already working on Walt Disney World (which would open in Florida in 1971) threatened a lawsuit because it was so similar to Disneyland.
New Yorkers complained that Freedomland’s ads, which claimed its remote site near the Westchester border could be reached in 30 minutes from Times Square by public transportation, weren’t remotely true.
A bigger problem was that the park was built on the site of a former municipal landfill that had not been properly drained — and was plagued by mosquitoes during much of the summer season.
The park’s operators tried adding more attractions, concerts and even beauty contests like this one in subsequent seasons, but nothing helped flagging attendance — which got even worse when Freedomland had to compete with the 1964/1965 New York World’s Fair in far easier-to-reach Flushing Meadows, Queens.
Freedomland U.S.A. shut its gates and filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 14, 1964. Its boats, trains and rides were sold to amusement parks around the country — and what was left of the park, including a parking lot that could hold 7,200 cars, was demolished to make way for the Co-Op City housing complex.