Old Chicago

Memory's a funny thing. I have vague memories from my childhood of going to an amusement park called Old Chicago. I remembered that the entire theme park was indoors, something that seemed off-kilter to me whenever I thought about it afterward. Would someone really build an amusement park indoors? Would it be functional? Wouldn't it be expensive to power the whole thing and keep it warm or cool, as appropriate?

Whenever I thought about it, I figured that I was remembering wrong somehow, that either it was a very small park that seemed bigger in my memory, or it wasn't really all indoors.

My impressions of the park were positive ones, if not very concrete: fun, with a classic theme reminiscent of old World Fairs. I remember wrenching my neck on a roller coaster. I remember my mom and dad there, and I think Dad might have carried me on his shoulders.

I'm not sure why I've never just asked my parents about it when it's come to mind, but I guess I've just never thought about it when they were directly at hand.

So today, it popped into my head for the thousandth time and I decided to look it up. I found a site that goes into a good amount of detail and brought back some memories. You can also read more about it in the Wikipedia.

As it turns out, I should have trusted my memory more. It was indeed an outdoor amusement park, although, unfortunately, it didn't last for very long. Kind of makes me wish I could step into a time machine and visit it sometime.

Oh, and on a slightly related note, I recently read a really good thriller about an enclosed amusement park. The book is called Utopia, and I'd recommend checking it out.