Lincoln Park originally opened in 1894, It was known for a location for having picnics and daily outtings. The name was chosen by a lottery when the park became popular. It offered a playground as well as concession stands and games. Later additions included a Carousel, The "Giant Coaster", and a dance hall.

            When cars became more common, Lincoln Park was forced to evolve into a full amusement park, as people were able to goto bigger and better locations. The "Giant Coaster" was recreated as the rollercoaster that now stands in the abandoned lot - The Comet. Also built were many other popular rides of the time, such as the bubble bounce, mini railroad and the board ride. Events still continued to take place in the dance hall.

            After numerous accidents on the parks coaster, people began to question the parks safety. The parks owner, Jay Hoffman, invested $75,000 in updating the park, But to no avail at appeasing the customers. Four months later the final accident occured, it seemed to be the final nail in the coffin.

            On December 3rd 1987, Lincoln Park forever closed its doors due to poor attendance and money issues. The rides were auctioned off, The original carousel can now be seen at the Fall River waterfront. Upon closing the park owed $48,000 in taxes and $13,000 in unpaid police details.

            The Comet: When the park was forced to evolve the Comet was constructed from the "Giant Coaster" in 1947. It cost a large sum for the time, $80,000. During the early days of the coaster, riders needed to carry sandbags to help the cars move.

            The Comet, as I'm sure many early coasters did, caused many deaths. In the 60's a man died from standing up as the car descended. Also during this time period, the last car detatched from the train.. Rolling backwards until it derailed, throwing its passengers out. 1986 saw another death, as a man felt the need to climb from car to car, while the coaster was in motion. The final accident of the comet also caused it's final run... In 1987 faulty breaks caused the car to derail and hang off the track with it's passengers still inside. This time, No one was killed. The car remained hanging there, until the 90s when vandals removed it.

            The first of the great fires occured in 1990. At this time the original dance hall from the early days of the Park still stood. The fire destroyed 10 buildings, including the dance hall. In 1991, 1992, and 1993, building after building fell to fire. After these 4 large fires, most of Lincoln Park's buildings had fallen. Another fire took out the maintenance warehouse in the late 90's. A total of 6 fires took place on the abandoned park lot.

            The few remaining buildings were collapsed during a winter storm in 2005. The site, 42 acres, is being redeveloped into a housing project. The project is to be a 252 condominium development called The Villiage.

~Tory

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