Not only was yesterday a special day for dads, it was also a special day for thrill seekers across the United States. Yesterday marked the 140th anniversary of the first roller coaster built in the United States.
LaMarcus Adna Thompson built the Switchback Gravity Railway for Coney Island Amusement Park in Brooklyn, NY with the opening day on June 16, 1884. Try to imagine the time period and it will give you a better appreciation of this new attraction.
Trains and stagecoaches were used to take people across the distance. Horses were the primary source of transportation. The first automobile was a two-cylinder steam powered “cart” invented in 1871 in Racine, WI, by pastor Dr. J.W. Carhart. It travelled at 5 mph. Also, remember that at this time, liquid fuel didn’t exist!1 It wouldn’t be until 1885 – the year after the first roller coaster – that Gottlieb Daimler would invent what was to be considered the prototype of the combustible engine.2
“The first automobile to be mass produced in the United States was the 1901 Curved Dash Oldsmobile, built by the American car manufacturer Ransome Eli Olds (1864-1950).”3 Henry Ford wouldn’t make his first vehicle until 1896 but he wouldn’t introduce his Model T until 1908.
Does this give you a better picture of what the world looked like when the first roller coaster came to town? While its design sounds incredibly boring compared to the roller coasters today, for 1884, it was a thrill in comparison to the other modes of transportation!
“Passengers climbed a set of stairs and rode a cart facing outward instead of forward, so they could enjoy the magnificent view. The coaster was 600 feet long and had a height of 50 feet. It traveled at a speed of only 6 mph, and it didn’t loop back to the beginning of the right. Instead, passengers would get out of the cart at the end of the ride and operators would turn the cart around to send it back to the start.”4
Why did Thompson design this coaster? It might surprise you to know that the roller coaster came on the scene for very noble reasons. Thompson saw people venturing to places of immorality and ill repute for their entertainment. Saloons, dance halls, casinos, and more attracted those looking for a good time.
Thompson was a religious man and wanted to supply a moral option for entertainment. He said, “Many of the evils of society, much of the vice and crime which we deplore come from the degrading nature of amusements … to substitute something better, something clean and wholesome, and persuade men to choose it, is worthy of all endeavor.”5
The success of the coaster is obvious. At the time, a ride cost five-cents and Thompson raked in about $600 per day. That was in 1884. Figuring for inflation, $600 in 1884 is worth $19,196.82 today!6 Extrapolating the math, in 2024, Thompson would have been making over $7 million per year – for a roller coaster that went 6 mph!!!
While you may not care to ride a roller coaster, they are a reminder of a ride we all take. Life is full of ups and downs, hills and valleys, slow places and places that move so fast that we scream in fear! With life changing at such a rapid pace, we need to be assured of something.
Psalms 139:7-12 reminds us, “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? (8) If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. (9) If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; (10) Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy 
right hand shall hold me. (11) If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. (12) Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.”
Wherever you are right now on this ride called LIFE, remember that the Lord is with you. He will not fail you. He will not forsake you. No matter how wild the ride might get and how fearful you may be, look beside you. There’s Jesus, calm, peaceful, reassuring, loving, and kind. He is on the ride with you and will see you through to the end.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” (Psalms 23:4)
1https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS13641
2https://www.thoughtco.com/who-invented-the-car-4059932
3Ibid.
4https://www.grunge.com/660860/the-real-reason-the-first-u-s-roller-coaster-was-created/
5Ibid.
6https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1884?amount=600
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