{{Short description|Former amusement park in Cleveland, Ohio}} {{For|other amusement parks known by the same name|Luna Park}}

thumb|300px|right|alt=Post card (~1910) picture of the main entrance of Luna Park, Cleveland. A victim of the Great Depression, the park closed its gates in 1929.|Post card (~1910) picture of the main entrance of '''Luna Park, Cleveland'''.[[File:Lunaparkcleveland-shootthechutes.jpg|thumb|300px|right|alt=View of Luna Park, Cleveland's shoot-the-chutes ride, ca. 1910. Note the sign for the "10¢ Infant Incubators" in the background.|View of '''Luna Park, Cleveland''''s shoot-the-chutes ride, ''ca.'' 1910. Note the sign for the "10¢ Infant Incubators" in the background.]]

'''Luna Park''' was a trolley park (a type of amusement park) in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1905<ref name=ech /> to 1929.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.westparkhistory.com/thennow/gone/gone.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060807032645/http://www.westparkhistory.com/thennow/gone/gone.htm |archive-date=August 7, 2006 |url-status=live |title=History of the West Park Neighborhoods |website=WestParkHistory.com |access-date=August 24, 2016 }}</ref>

== Specifications ==

Constructed by Frederick Ingersoll, the park occupied a hilly {{convert|35|acre|m2|adj=on}} site bounded by Woodland Avenue, Woodhill, Mt. Carmel (originally Ingersoll Road), and East 110th Street and included roller coasters, carousels, a fun house, a Ferris wheel, a roller rink, a shoot-the-chutes ride, a concert shell, a dance hall, bumper cars, a baseball field, and a 20,000-seat<ref name="Murray Greenberg 2008">{{citation |first= Murray |last= Greenberg |title= Passing Game: Benny Friedman and the Transformation of Football |publisher= PublicAffairs |year= 2008 |isbn= 978-1-58648-477-4 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/passinggamebenny0000gree }}</ref> stadium (unofficially called "Luna Bowl", destroyed by fire in August, 1929[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52123923/the-akron-beacon-journal/ Clipped From The Akron Beacon Journal]) in which American football was played.<ref name= ech>{{cite encyclopedia| url= http://ech.cwru.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=LP2 |title= Luna Park | encyclopedia= The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History |publisher= Case Western Reserve University| date= March 27, 1998 | access-date= August 24, 2016}}</ref>

On May 18, 1905, Cleveland's Luna Park became the second Ingersoll park of that name (out of 44)<ref name= ech /><ref name="post-gazette">{{cite news| url= http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08245/908516-42.stm |title= Luna Park's luminary: Entrepreneur/roller coaster designer deserves his due| newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette| date= September 1, 2008}}</ref> to have opened before his death in 1927, and the second amusement park (after Luna Park, Pittsburgh, which opened weeks earlier) to be covered with electrical lighting.<ref name="post-gazette" />

== History == The monetary demands of upgrading and maintaining his embryonic chain of amusement parks forced Ingersoll, the original owner of Cleveland's Luna Park, to declare bankruptcy in 1908;<ref>{{citation | first= Jim |last= Futrell| title= Amusement Parks of Pennsylvania| publisher= Flagpole Books| year= 2002| isbn= 0-8117-2671-1}}</ref> Ingersoll was forced to sell his Cleveland park<ref name= ech /><ref>''Timeline: A Publication of the Ohio Historical Society'', Ohio Historical Society, 2005.</ref> to Matthew Bramley, an original investor in (and, later, owner of) Ingersoll's Luna Park Amusement Company who built the Cleveland Trinidad Paving Company into the largest paving company in the world.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| url= http://ech.cwru.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=BMF |title= Matthew Frederick Bramley |encyclopedia= Encyclopedia of Cleveland History| publisher= Case Western Reserve University| date= July 14, 1997| access-date= August 24, 2016}}</ref> Bramley added rides to Luna Park as its popularity as a trolley park grew, in part because beer was sold on the park grounds.<ref name=ech /> left|thumb|200x200px|Matthew Frederick Bramley grave at Riverside Cemetery in Cleveland After the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and the beginning of Prohibition (1920), a primary source of revenue was removed as the park's popularity waned. Bramley officially closed the gates to Luna Park in 1929 for the final time. The park was beset with incidences of arson, including the fire that destroyed the football stadium, and most of the rides were dismantled and moved to other amusement parks in the early 1930s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Historical |first=Cleveland |title=Luna Park - A Sliver of Coney Island in Cleveland |url=https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/259 |access-date=2023-10-12 |website=Cleveland Historical |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-11-07 |title=LUNA PARK {{!}} Encyclopedia of Cleveland History {{!}} Case Western Reserve University |url=https://case.edu/ech/articles/l/luna-park |access-date=2023-10-12 |website=case.edu |language=en}}</ref> In June 1939, construction crews broke ground for a new housing development project to be built on the grounds where Luna Park once stood.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Glanville |first=Justin |title=The Past and Future of Cleveland's Woodhill Homes |url=https://indepth.ideastream.org/woodhill-homes-cleveland-public-housing/ |access-date=2023-10-02 |website=indepth.ideastream.org |language=en}}</ref> Woodhill Homes was completed on November 1, 1940, making it one of the nation's first public housing projects.<ref name=":0" />

== Luna Bowl tenants == {{Moresources|section|date=August 2022}} The stadium at Luna Park The Cleveland Panthers of the first American Football League and the Cleveland Bulldogs of the National Football League played their home games in '''Luna Bowl''',<ref name="Murray Greenberg 2008"/> and (after the dismantling of the amusement rides had begun) the Federal League Cleveland Green Sox,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.statscrew.com/minorbaseball/roster/t-cs10946/y-1913|title=1913 Cleveland Green Sox minor league baseball Roster on StatsCrew.com|website=www.statscrew.com}}</ref> Luna Bowl was the home to Negro league baseball teams Cleveland Tigers (1928) Cleveland Stars (1932), Cleveland Giants (1933), and Cleveland Red Sox (1934).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Luna Park - Cleveland |url=https://www.retroseasons.com/stadiums/luna-park-cleveland/history/bio/ |access-date=2023-10-04 |website=RetroSeasons |language=en-US}}</ref>

Collegiately, Case School of Applied Science defeated Western Reserve University 7–6 on November 19, 1927, during their annual rivalry football game, played only once at Luna Park.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.case.edu/its/archives/Seasons/cfoot1927.htm| title= Case Football 1927/28 Season Record| website= Case.edu| publisher= Case Western Reserve University | access-date= August 24, 2016}}</ref> The winning touchdown was scored by Case's Frank Herzegh.

== Woodland Rink == {{Moresources|section|date=August 2022}}

The roller rink was added to Luna Park when the park was sold to Matthew Bramley in 1910.<ref name="ech" /> The roller rink was known as the Woodland Rink.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Woodland Rink Luna Park, Cleveland, OH |url=https://rink-history.weebly.com/woodland-rink-luna-park-cleveland-oh.html |access-date=2023-10-12 |website=RINK HISTORY |language=en}}</ref> On December 12, 1938, the last vestige of the park, the skating rink, was destroyed by fire.<ref name="ech" />

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Luna Park, Cleveland}} *[http://www.rct2uces.com/files/lunapark/ParkTour1.htm First-year tour of Cleveland's Luna Park] *[http://www.rct2uces.com/files/lunapark/ParkLaterImprovements.htm Timeline of additions to Cleveland's Luna Park, 1906-1925] *[https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4084cm.g4084cm_g06648194909/?sp=78 1949 Sanborn map showing parts of Luna Park including athletic field] *{{RCDB|5966}} *[https://lakeerieliving.com/articles/2022-mayjune/looking-back-luna-park/ Looking back: Luna Park]

{{Coord|41|29|23|N|81|36|42|W|type:landmark_region:US-OH|display=title}} {{Cleveland Panthers}} {{Defunct NFL stadiums}} {{Ohio League}} {{AFL I}} {{Authority control}}

Category:Amusement parks in Ohio Category:Culture of Cleveland Category:Defunct amusement parks in Ohio Category:Defunct American football venues in the United States Category:American Football League (1926) venues Category:Defunct baseball venues in the United States Category:Defunct Negro league baseball venues Category:History of Cleveland Category:Sports venues in Cleveland Category:1905 establishments in Ohio Category:1929 disestablishments in Ohio Category:Amusement parks opened in 1905 Category:Amusement parks closed in 1929 Category:Defunct sports venues in Ohio Category:Federal League venues