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Willow Grove Park

Willow Grove, Italy

Willow Grove Park

Willow Grove Park was an amusement park located in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. It operated for eighty years, from 1896 to 1975. Having replaced Ridgway Park near modern Penn's Landing, it also outlasted its main competitor, Woodside Amusement Park in Fairmount Park. The park originally was conceived

by one of the three Philadelphia area traction companies, People's Traction Company, as a means to encourage weekend customers on the trolley line, a practice that led to the coining of the term trolley park. The park's management imposed a strict dress code and relatively high prices to attract a "better class" of customer. Starting in the 1900s, the park was served by the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company's Route 6 streetcar line through Glenside. Streetcar service to the park ended in 1958 when the Pennsylvania Highway Department acquired a portion of the route for construction of the Pennsylvania Route 309 Expressway. One of the biggest attractions in the park was the music pavilion, at which John Philip Sousa and his band played several times between 1901 and 1926. The pavilion was demolished in March 1959. The park operated under the name Six Gun Territory from 1972 until its...

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