Kiddie Land opened its 1958 season with clowns, ice cream and free rides. (Courtesy State Journal-Register)
Kiddie Land was Springfield’s home-grown amusement park in the 1950s and ‘60s.
On opening day, May 27, 1950, every child received a balloon, and rides – on the merry-go-round, ponies, boats and a fire engine – cost 13 cents each, or nine for $1.
The park’s founders were brothers-in-law Kenneth Burkhardt (1910-1973) and George Scroggin (1901-73), but Burkhardt and his wife, Elverda Scroggin Burkhardt (1914-2003), ran Kiddie Land during most of its existence.
Kenneth Burkhardt told the Illinois State Journal in 1954 that he and Elverda decided to open Kiddie Land after seeing a similar business when they lived in Chicago.
Mr. and Mrs. Burkardt opened Kiddie-Land here five years ago. The park is stocked with “kiddie sized” rides, which include a merry-go-round, a whip, boat rides, airplane rides and car rides. For added thrills, the kids can ride on a full size, homemade fire engine.
A dozen Wabash Avenue businesses collaborated on a full page of ads in a 1960 edition of the Illinois State Journal. (SJ-R)
Kiddie Land was off Dirksen Parkway between Cook Street and Illinois 29 from 1950 till 1955. The park moved that year to Wabash Avenue, which was becoming what the Sunday State Journal-Register called “Springfield’s playground.” By 1961, Wabash avenue offered 30 acres of family recreation, the Sunday State Journal-Register reported.
Moonlight Gardens was the first to settle on the 1700 block of Wabash. For more than 30 years it has offered dancing and roller skating. Today, it is devoted solely to roller skating.
Jake’s Recreation Park has been located on Wabash since 1953. Starting with miniature golf and a baseball hitting range, they now have added a shooting gallery and an archery range.
In 1955, Pat’s Golf Driving Range and Kiddie-Land Park moved to the area.
1961 saw the newest of the rides come to the area. Go-Karts originated on the West Coast and have spread all across the country.
The Burkhardts expanded Kiddie Land in its new location, adding more elaborate carnival rides, a miniature diesel train and picnic areas. Prices, however, remained stable, at two rides for a quarter and 10 for $1.
Kiddie Land was a seasonal attraction, opening at 6 p.m. weekdays and 2 p.m. Sundays and holidays from about Memorial Day until late summer each year.
“Mom and Pop,” the park’s ads promised, “There is no finer entertainment for your children. They will love every minute at Kiddie-Land.” (The hyphen appeared and disappeared more or less at random in both newspaper stories and advertisements.)
Kiddie Land closed after the 1964 season.
Fairgrounds Kiddyland
A private amusement park that operated at the Illinois State Fairgrounds from 1975 to 1993 also adopted the name “Kiddyland” (note spelling difference). There was no connection between that park and the original Kiddie Land.
Kiddyland was owned by John Holliday (1926-2002), who contracted with the fair to set up rides on the southeast corner of the fairgrounds. The park operated during non-fair months as well as during the fair.
According to a newspaper story when Kiddyland closed in 1993, its attractions included child-sized trains, a 1940s-era merry-go-round, a small roller-coaster, a Ferris Wheel, a scrambler, a tilt-a-whirl, go-karts and bumper boats.
“There’s an awful lot of good memories there,” Holliday’s daughter Donna told State Journal-Register reporter Rosalynne Harty at the time. “Part of you looks at it and your heart is breaking, and part of it, you’re smiling because you do have good memories and good friends there.”
Kiddyland was replaced by a similar park, Adventure Village. It originally was open from Memorial Day to Labor Day. In 2012, however, owners American Midway shut down Adventure Village except during the run of the state fair itself.
Hat tip: To reader Anne Moseley for the suggestion.
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Thank you for this! Kiddie Land is one of my first memories. I went there with my parents and my brother in about 1960 when it was on Wabash Avenue. We were so excited to go that we made up a song in the car about Kiddy Land. These were the days when you rode in the back of a station wagon without any seatbelts. I remember my brother and I riding go-carts at Kiddy Land. There were tires piled up around the edges of the go-cart track. My brother crashed his go-cart into the tires. No one was hurt, but it made an indelible early memory!
Where was this,my father took my sisters and I too a park when we were young.It had a old wooden rollercoaster,very frightning but oh so fun. They shut it down,it was so old.I still have to smile when I think of it.I remember my Dad telling us about the woman who lost her wig on it! My names Karen Helmle,my father was Paul Helmle.