page_title: White City (Indianapolis)
section_title: After the fire
hierarchical_section_title: White City (Indianapolis) / After the fire
caption_attribution_description: English: Dentzel carved carousel in The Children's Museum of Indianapolis.
context_page_description: White City was an amusement park in Indianapolis, Indiana's Broad Ripple Park that was in operation from May 26, 1906, until June 26, 1908. The trolley park was constructed and owned by the Broad Ripple Transit Company. Similar to nearby rivals Riverside Amusement Park and Wonderland, White City was inspired by an exhibit in the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Although the park's grand opening was immensely successful, White City's existence was the briefest of the three, having been open for two and one-half seasons before burning to the ground. Throughout the park's existence, advertisements touted White City as "the amusement park that satisfied".
context_section_description: The park remained closed for three years. The Union Traction Company of Indiana bought it on March 6, 1911, quickly restored it, and operated it for eleven years. The pool was the main attraction, with new buildings (boathouse, dance hall, dining hall) and playground equipment to complement it. It was billed as the largest pool in the world, being 500 feet (150 m) long and 250 feet (76 m) wide, in an effort to bolster weekend traffic on the company's interurban rail line. The pool would host three prominent events: the 1922 National Swimming Event and the Olympic tryouts of 1924 and 1952. In the 1924 event Johnny Weissmuller, of Tarzan fame, won the 100-meter freestyle qualifier.
  In May 1922, the park was sold to the new Broad Ripple Amusement Park Association, who soon changed the park's name to Broad Ripple Amusement Park. In 1927 the park was again sold, this time to Oscar Baur, a brewery executive from Terre Haute, Indiana.
  By 1938 the park boasted of its concrete pool, billed as "the world's largest", 20 acres (8 ha) of free parking, a new ballroom, and mechanized rides. The Board of Parks Commission of Indianapolis bought the property on May 18, 1945, paying $131,500 for the 60-acre (24 ha) property, and converted the grounds into a city park, which was once again named Broad Ripple Park. The city filled in the swimming pool, sold some of the remaining rides, and destroyed all of the unsold ones except for the 1917-vintage carousel, which it continued to operate until the carousel's condition deteriorated.
  The animal figures Broad Ripple Park Carousel were purchased by The Children's Museum of Indianapolis starting in 1966. The museum restored and mounted the figures on a new carousel mechanism. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987, the carousel is still in operation at the museum.
  The steam locomotive was eventually relocated to the Indiana Transportation Museum in Noblesville, Indiana.
caption: Broad Ripple Park Carousel, now located at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
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