Friedsam Memorial Carousel

1000 5th Avenue | Central Park | built 1951

Open on the map11 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1871

    The park's first carousel runs on mule power

    The first carousel on this spot opened in 1871. It was turned by a mule or horse walking beneath the platform, which started and stopped when the operator tapped his foot. The current carousel is the fourth to stand here.

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. 1886

    May

    Park commissioners propose a Sunday amusement ban, and public outcry keeps the carousel running

    In May 1886 the Park Commissioners proposed banning amusements in Central Park on Sundays, and the public answered quickly. Commissioner John D. Crimmins conceded that the carousel standing on this site then, the original mule-powered ride, was a special delight of small boys and that no complaints had been made against it. Public opinion won, and the ride kept turning on Sundays.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1905

    April 16

    A five-year-old's rag doll Herbert is stolen from the carousel

    At the carousel that stood on this site in 1905, Marie Van Mater, a five-year-old tourist from Denver, laid her rag doll Herbert on the ground while she rode a lion so fierce she feared for him. When she looked again he was gone. Her mother ran a $5 reward notice in the Times, and the family's hotel was swamped with strangers carrying dolls until a poor girl returned Herbert and refused the reward, because she had taken him.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1908

    Stein and Goldstein build the carousel that would later come to Central Park

    Carousel makers Solomon Stein and Harry Goldstein built the ride in 1908 for a trolley terminal at Coney Island, where it ran into the 1940s. Carved with 57 horses and two chariots, it later replaced Central Park's own carousel after a 1950 fire.

    Source: Wikipedia

  5. 1924

    Fire destroys an earlier carousel on the site in 1924

    The first carousel on this site was driven by a mule in a pit, but in 1912 an electric motor ended the mule era. In 1924 the ride burned to the ground. A replacement kept turning until another fire in 1950.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  6. 1951

    A 1908 Coney Island carousel replaces one lost to fire

    Central Park's carousels kept burning: the second was destroyed by fire in 1924 and the third in 1950. The replacement, installed in 1951 in a new building, was a carousel carved in 1908 by Solomon Stein and Harry Goldstein that had run at a Coney Island trolley terminal until the 1940s. It carries 57 hand-carved horses and two chariots.

    Source: Wikipedia

  7. 1951

    The brass ring from Salinger's novel is left off the new carousel

    Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye mentions the carousel on this site that burned in 1950, a ride with the traditional brass ring for riders to snatch. When the present Coney Island carousel was built and installed in 1951, the ring feature was not brought back.

    Source: Wikipedia

  8. 1964

    Mrs. John F. Kennedy rides the carousel with her son John Jr.

    The Times reported in 1964 that Mrs. John F. Kennedy rode the horses shortly before noon with her young son, John Jr. Daytonian in Manhattan cites the item as one example of the ride's appeal to young and old, rich and not-so-rich alike.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  9. 1982

    The Central Park Conservancy restores the carousel and its grounds

    In 1982, the Central Park Conservancy restored the carousel with funding from donors Alan and Katherine Stroock. Restoration of the surrounding landscape followed, finishing in 1991, and the ride remains one of the largest merry-go-rounds in the United States, drawing about 250,000 riders a year.

    Source: Wikipedia

  10. 2010

    The city evicts the old operator and leases the carousel to the Trump Organization

    In 2010 the city evicted the carousel's previous manager and chose the Trump Organization, which also ran Wollman Rink. The lease ran to 2020 with a promised $400,000 in renovations over ten years and annual rent rising from $250,000 to $325,000. Campaign statements later said the ride grossed $1.72 million from 2013 through 2015.

    “In 2010, the city evicted the previous tenant who managed the Carousel. The Trump Organization ... was selected as the new tenant.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  11. 2021

    January 13

    Mayor de Blasio cancels the Trump Organization's contract to run the carousel

    On January 13, 2021, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city would end all contracts with the Trump Organization, citing the previous week's storming of the Capitol. The cancellations, which also covered Wollman and Lasker rinks, took effect in February. Central Amusement International won a five-year franchise in July and began running the carousel on October 16, 2021.

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 15 buildings with stories in Central Park