Luna Park, Schenectady


Luna Park was one of several names for an amusement park that existed in Rexford, New York, near Schenectady, from 1901 to 1933. In addition to Luna Park, it was also known as Dolle's Park, Colonnade Park, Palisades Park, and Rexford Park before the rides were dismantled in 1933. Constructed around the Grand View Hotel, the park was similar to Ingersoll's other Luna Parks in which it was a trolley park with roller coasters, picnic pavilions, carousels, a fun house, a roller rink, a concert shell, a dance hall, a midway, a Whip, and a shoot-the-chutes ride which presented itself at the park entrance adjacent to a station of the Van Vranken electric trolley line. Roughly seven decades before the Skycoaster rides that now dot various United States amusement parks, Luna/Rexford Park featured an aerial swing ride.
The trolley line charged its passengers five cents each for the trip to the park, but the park did not have an admission charge.
The Schenectady Luna Park lasted longer than most of Ingersoll's Luna Parks. Ingersoll's shaky finances forced him to sell the popular park to Dolle in 1912. Four years later, new management changed its name one last time, to Rexford Park. Unlike most amusement parks of the first decade of the 20th century, Luna/Rexford Park was still standing after the return of the U. S. military from participation in World War I. In 1925, the Grand View Hotel was destroyed by a fire, but the park stayed open for the season. The popularity of the park declined in the face of the onset of the Great Depression, forcing the dismantling of the park's rides in 1933.
Some of the pilings for the Saratoga trolley line still remain in the Mohawk River.