Six Flags New England is an amusement park located in Agawam, Massachusetts. Opening in the late 19th century, it is the oldest amusement park in the Six Flags chain, acquired by Premier Parks in 1996 and rebranded Six Flags New England in 2000. Superman The Ride is among the park's most notable rides, having appeared as a highly ranked roller coaster in the annual Golden Ticket Awards from Amusement Today since the ride opened in 2000.
History
Throughout much of the 20th century, the park was known as Riverside Park. It began as a picnic grove in 1870 named Gallup's Grove. It was briefly changed to Riverside Grove, and then eventually Riverside Park in 1912. Prior to 1900, most of the park's patrons arrived via steamship. The Springfield Street Railway extended its line to the park in 1900 and, although Riverside was at the end of the Springfield Street Railway, it was not owned by the railway and is, therefore, not considered a trolley park, contrary to published reports.Cecchi, David. "Images of America Riverside Park". Arcadia Publishing, 2011, pg.7
In the early 1900s, a few mechanical rides and a carousel were added. The park was purchased in 1911 by Henry J. Perkins who transformed the park from a picnic grove to an amusement park. He built the park's first roller coaster, The Giant Dip, in 1912, which proved to be so popular that another coaster, The Greyhound, was added in 1915.Cecchi, pp. 22–24. Under Perkins' ownership, the park continued to prosper and additional amusements were added, including a 300-foot-diameter pool that became known as Lake Takadip.Cecchi, pp. 51–54. The original Giant Dip coaster was replaced in 1920 by a new, more thrilling coaster that was twice the size of the Giant and was eventually named Lightning.Cecchi, p. 25. A third coaster, Whirlwind Racer, was added in 1928.
Closure and re-opening
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 took its toll on the park and by 1931 it had gone into foreclosure. For the 1932 season, the park operated only Wednesday through Sunday, and in 1933 it closed. Several attempts to reopen the park failed and it remained closed through 1939, although the grounds were occasionally used for company picnics.Cecchi, pp. 8–9. A drive-in movie theater operated in the parking lot from 1937 to 1939.
Edward Carroll Sr. purchased the abandoned park in 1939 and after making improvements, reopened Riverside Park on May 29, 1940.Cecchi, p. 9 Carroll is credited with rescuing Riverside and turning it into the largest theme park in New England.Cecchi, p. 70 He purchased the plans and cars of the 1939 New York World's Fair Cyclone Roller Coaster and opened a new coaster in 1941.Cecchi, David. "Images of America Riverside Park". Arcadia Publishing, 2011, p. 81 That coaster, now known as Thunderbolt, is operating at the park and is the oldest coaster — in its original location — within the entire Six Flags chain of theme parks. The park continued to add new rides and removed some older ones. The theater was removed in the late 1950s, making Riverside Park a seasonal attraction and then by the late 1950s the park opened from mid to late April and concluded at the end of October every year since the late 1950s and it still is today.
Carroll took a liking to auto racing, a sport that was gaining popularity in the Northeast after World War II, and added it to his slate of attractions at Riverside, building the Riverside Park Speedway in 1948, replacing an open-air bandstand. The Old West Village and Eldorado Train Ride were built in 1960 but the ride sadly was destroyed by a fire in September 1971 and it was never rebuilt. The 1960s was a popular period for stock car racing at Riverside Park. NASCAR began to hold events at Riverside Park Speedway in 1976. In 1968 the park added its first steel coaster called the Wildcat and in 1977, Riverside Park added its first looping roller coaster, The Loop Coaster, later known as Black Widow. After a new roller rink was built in 1978, the former roller rink building, opened in 1916, was demolished in 1979 to expand the park. In 1998, the rink was closed and is now the human resources building. Edward J. Carrol Sr died in 1979, but the park continued to be successful throughout the 1970s and the 1980s. In 1979 the park invested in an Arrow Development log flume known as Red River Rapids. It became the park's first water ride. It was later renamed Poland Spring Plunge. By the 1980s, the park stopped selling individual ride tickets and began charging a "pay one price" admission.
Six years after the opening of Black Widow, the Wildcat was removed and moved to the late Rocky Point Park in Rhode Island. In 1983, Riverside Park added its third roller coaster, which was also the park's second wooden coaster. The owners originally wanted a coaster exactly like the Coney Island Cyclone, but space was limited, so the coaster would need to take up less space and would have sharper twists and turns. It became known as the Riverside Cyclone. In 1987, Riverside attempted to build a white-water rafting ride called the Lost River Water Ride. Plagued with problems, the attraction never opened and was subsequently abandoned. A majority of the ride was demolished in 1989 to make way for Wild River Falls, a waterslide complex consisting of three sets of slides: Riptide, Blue Lightning and Pipeline. A popular attraction, Wild River Falls remained in operation until the opening of the Island Kingdom Waterpark in 1997.
In 1994, Riverside partnered with Lady Luck Gaming in a proposal to build a hotel and dockside casino complex at the park, one of several competing casino proposals in the state. The plan died after Agawam voters rejected a non-binding referendum in support of casino gambling in November.
Purchase by Premier Parks During the 1996 season, the track on the Musik Express was damaged and the attraction remained closed for a portion of the year. A Chance Chaos was ordered and was scheduled to open for the 1997 season. In December of 1996, the Carroll family agreed to sell the park to Premier Parks of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In the Spring of 1997, Premier Parks renamed the park to Riverside: The Great Escape.
Under Premier Parks, various changes were made to the park. For the 1997 season, the new owners invested more than $20 million on general improvements and several new attractions. A new front entrance to the park was constructed, which included the expansion and renovation of Main Street U.S.A. and the relocation and renovation of the carousel. The Island Kingdom Waterpark was an expansion to the park that featured a children's water play area, various slides, and a wave pool. This expansion was added to the south end of the park next to the park's log flume in the location of the parking lot. To make room for this expansion, the parking lot was relocated to the other side of the roadway in former farmland and significantly expanded.
Other additions in 1997 included Mind Eraser (later renamed to The Riddler Revenge) and Shipwreck Falls. In the process of renovation, some older rides such as the Bayern Kurve and The Monorail were removed. The Southern Center midway was rethemed to a 1950s city named Rockville.
In 1998, the water park was further expanded, with additions such as a lazy river, another children's play structure called Hook's Lagoon, a speed slide tower called Cannonball, a family raft slide called Swiss Family Toboggan, and a multi-slide tower called Big Kahuna. The park also added The Hellevator, an S&S Worldwide Turbo Drop tower measuring 21 stories tall, which was originally painted red.
Six Flags On April 1, 1998, Premier Parks acquired the Six Flags chain of parks from Time Warner. The park continued to be known as "Riverside" until the end of the 1999 season. In 1999, the waterpark was doubled in size. Additions included a new slide tower named Shark Attack and a second wave pool called Hurricane Bay. The park also added a Hopkins river raft ride named Blizzard River to the North End, replacing a set of dry slides and the old Bumper Cars. Blizzard River was themed to incorporate the Penguin character from the Batman franchise; however, the name of the ride was never changed when the park was allowed to use characters from DC Comics on their rides. A new western area called Crackaxle Canyon was added and included four rides, three of which were new to the park. The Riverside Park Speedway was also removed.
In 2000, Riverside was rebranded "Six Flags New England," reflecting similar changes made at other Six Flags properties. On the former site of the racetrack, a new DC Comics-themed section of the park was installed, called "DC Super Hero Adventures." The area featured several new rides, including Superman – Ride of Steel, a hypercoaster designed by Intamin. The park also added Flashback, a relocated Vekoma Boomerang from Kentucky Kingdom, which replaced the Black Widow and Rotor in the North End. Two S&S Worldwide Combo drop tower rides were added next to the Hellevator; the entire drop tower complex was painted white and named Scream. A pedestrian bridge was also constructed over the roadway in front of the park to provide a safer connection between the parking lot and front entrance.
In 2003, the water park was renamed to Hurricane Harbor and saw the addition of the Tornado water slide.
Mr. Six's Pandemonium, a Gerstlauer spinning coaster, was added for the 2005 season in the North End of the park. The Mr. Six name was dropped from the attraction ahead of the 2007 season. At the end of the 2005 season, the Poland Spring Plunge log flume and ferris wheel were removed.
In 2006, Splash Water Falls and Catapult, an S&S Power Sky Swatter, were added to the park, two relocated rides from the recently closed Six Flags AstroWorld. Splash Water Falls replaced the log flume and ferris wheel in the South End of the park, and Catapult was located in the North End of the park near Cyclone.
In 2007, two new children's areas were introduced to the park: Wiggles World and Thomas Town. Wiggles World was located on the site of the former Tiny Timber Town children's section, which saw the introduction of a few new rides and attractions but also consisted of a few rethemed attractions. Thomas Town was located near the front gate of the park and included three rides and a splash pad.
In 2008, Six Flags New England was set to open The Dark Knight Coaster, an indoor MACK Wild Mouse coaster based on the upcoming film of the same name. The park's other Batman-based attraction had its name briefly changed from Batman – The Dark Knight to Batman: The Ride to avoid confusion. However, due to apparent permit issues, the ride was canceled and dismantled, being sent to Six Flags Mexico. The ride would have cost the park $7.5 million in exchange for bringing $280,000 in taxes for the state of Massachusetts. The cancellation angered the city of Agawam, which stated that issues with the ride were not evident. The park then announced the new "Glow in the Park Parade". On November 8, 2008, the Town of Agawam allowed Six Flags the right to build roller coasters up to in height.
At the end of the 2008 season, it was announced that Superman – Ride of Steel would be rethemed to Bizarro. The track was repainted purple with dark blue supports, and multiple special effects were added; including building structures that give riders the impression of speeding through a city, rings in the shape of Bizarro's S shield that the train passes through, and flame effects. Two new trains with on-board audio were purchased. Bizarro opened on May 22, 2009 at the start of Memorial Day weekend.