Luna Park, Arlington
Luna Park was a trolley park in Alexandria County, Virginia, that operated between 1906 and 1915. The Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Electric Railway constructed the amusement park for $350,000 in collaboration with the facility's designer and operator, Frederick Ingersoll.
The park occupied near the present intersection of South Glebe Road and Jefferson Davis Highway. Exhibits were housed in buildings displaying different architecture styles. The park featured a figure eight roller coaster, a shoot-the-chutes ride, a ballroom, restaurants, picnic facilities for 3,000 people and an arena that sat 8,000 spectators and accommodated circuses. Billboard magazine described the park in 1908 as having "big dumb acts".
Luna Park was one of several amusement parks that Ingersoll operated in 1905 and 1906. Although Ingersoll's amusement park empire was drastically reduced as a result of his declaration of bankruptcy in 1911, he retained his interest in the Alexandria County park.
On the morning of August 20, 1906, four elephants from a traveling show performing at Luna Park escaped. It took several days to round them up. One wandered as far as Baileys Crossroads; another, 20 miles south of Alexandria.
On April 15, 1915, a fire destroyed the park's signature roller coaster. According to The Washington Post, "the origin of the fire is thought to have been from sparks from a blaze in the woods adjoining the park". The damage was extensive, and the park's precarious finances forced the park to go out of business. The structures in the park were mostly dismantled later in the year, though traces of the park were evident as late as 1988. The Arlington County sewage treatment facility now covers the park's site.
