As executive director of the White Bear Lake Area Historical Society, Sara Markoe Hanson gets lots of questions from people who want to know more about the history of communities in the northeast metro.
But rarely does a week go by without somebody inquiring about the exact location of the once-booming Wildwood Amusement Park on the southern shore of White Bear Lake.
There, the world's largest roller coaster once rattled along its tracks. It's also where the Tilt-A-Whirl made its debut.
Hanson attributes the recent surge in interest in the theme park, which closed more than 80 years ago, to current low water levels on the lake. "People with metal detectors want to go out and see what they can find, treasures from a historical standpoint or something of monetary value," Hanson said. "Really, almost nothing remains that indicates that there ever was an amusement park there."
Although few artifacts survived when Wildwood was torn down in the 1930s, historic photographs and newspaper ads recount the glory days of the 20-acre park.
Hanson shared some of them last week during a program titled "Where Exactly was the Wildwood Amusement Park?" Her presentation drew an overflow crowd to the Ramsey County Library's White Bear Lake branch. She will present the same program again at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Wildwood Library in Mahtomedi.
Images of the Toboggan slide, which whisked daredevils down a steep incline and into the lake, and the sprawling pavilion where visitors could check out rowboats, brought back memories for some in the crowd, and raised questions for others.
Gene Alstatt surmised that large spikes he has run across in a pond near Hwy. 244 and Birchwood Road might have been used to anchor the Pippen 500-foot roller coaster, one of Wildwood's signature attractions. Chan Donahower, 66, said he has a few old Coke bottles and an aluminum tag that might have designated a locker in the bathhouse where guests could rent swimsuits for 25 cents.