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All the United States New York State New York City North Tonawanda Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum

Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum

A preserved factory in the "Home of the Carrousel" is now a museum dedicated to the classic wooden ride.

North Tonawanda, New York

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Dennis Jurasz
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The factory is on the New York and Federal Registers of Historic Places   Florence88
There are two merry-go-rounds at the museum open for rides   gardener41
A couple of the more unusual mounts on display   Curtis Anderson
Detail of one of the operating carousels   gardener41
Some original carving   gardener41
From a later era of Herschell, when they made kiddie rides   gardener41
The factory dates to the early 20th century   gardener41
Many mounts were carved at Herschell, including the classic horse   Daderot
A 1950s era kiddie ride   Dottie Mae
Wurlitzer perforating machine for paper music rolls for band organs   Avoiding Regret
A Herschell-carved zebra, part of the museum’s menagerie collection   Avoiding Regret
  hannsharonr / Atlas Obscura User
Little Dipper   Avoiding Regret
  hannsharonr / Atlas Obscura User
  hannsharonr / Atlas Obscura User
Reproduction of the roundhouse   Avoiding Regret
  hannsharonr / Atlas Obscura User
  hannsharonr / Atlas Obscura User
  hannsharonr / Atlas Obscura User
  hannsharonr / Atlas Obscura User
  hannsharonr / Atlas Obscura User
Lead horse on the 1916 #1 Special carousel (“King Billy”)   Avoiding Regret
3-abreast rows of the 1916 #1 Special carousel   Avoiding Regret
  nicoleertl / Atlas Obscura User
Little Dipper   nicoleertl / Atlas Obscura User
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About

In a small city in western New York State, only 10 miles or so from Niagara Falls, there was a hotbed of manufacturing: Wurlitzer organs, Richardson Boats, Buffalo Bolts, International Paper, Tonawanda Iron & Steel, and 150 lumber mills kept the place humming from the 19th and well into the 20th century.

Still, with all this bustle, business and building going on, the official sign that greets you coming into town says “Welcome to North Tonawanda: The Home of the Carrousel.”

From 1883 to 1955, the Herschell Company made roller coasters, carnival rides, narrow-gauge trains, and most famously, carousels. The jumble of buildings on Thompson Street, where Herschell designed, carved and assembled thousands of beautifully made merry-go-rounds, is a perfectly preserved factory and now museum, dedicated to the rides and amusements of a dreamy, sepia-toned childhood.

The factory complex was built between 1910 and 1915, and turned out state-of-the-art rides until 1955 when the company moved to Buffalo. Open to the public as a museum since 1983, in addition to exhibits and vintage displays there are two wooden carousels with band organs still in service. There is also a “Kiddieland,” where helpful volunteers from the younger crowd are enlisted to help test out vintage rides that have been recently restored.  

The old factory is listed on both the New York and National Registers of Historic Places, honoring what is one of the only surviving examples of a manufacturing plant from the glory days of wooden carousels. Because once you’ve ridden the real thing, those clangy metal ones just don’t measure up.

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Museums And Collections Museums Factories Amusement Parks

Know Before You Go

North Tonawanda is about half-way between Niagara Falls and Buffalo, about 10 miles in either direction. The Museum is closed for general admission from January 1 to April 1, but tours and parties can be booked (call to arrange at (716) 693-1885). For hours the rest of the years, see website at upper right. Admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors, and $3 for kids (under age 2 are free).

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NTPD935

Edited By

Avoiding Regret, hannsharonr, nicoleertl

  • Avoiding Regret
  • hannsharonr
  • nicoleertl

Published

January 17, 2017

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  • http://carrouselmuseum.org
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herschell_Carrousel_Factory_Museum
Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum
180 Thompson Street
North Tonawanda, New York
United States
43.029765, -78.873088
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