This page dedicated to Enchanté who's web site is dedicated to the Carousel.

One hundred years ago, German immigrant and inventor Gustav Dentzel ushered in America's golden age of carousels by creating a device that made the ornately carved animals rise and fall.

Merry-Go-Round. "Carousel" comes from the Italian carosello, "little war," an ancient horsemanship game. About 80 percent of U.S. carousel figures were horses. The Crescent Park, Rhode Island, carousel, built in 1895, was renowned for its speed. At 15 mph, riders on outside horses had to hang on tight.

Carousels peaked in the 1920s, with nearly 4,000. By the 1950s, there were fewer than 1,000. After the 1929 stock market crash, carousels that had cost $25,000 sold for $1,000 to $2,000.

Today there are 148 antique wooden carousels in America. Classic individual horses sell for as much as $121,000. A record $715,000 was recently spent to return a carousel to it's original Cleveland home after 28 years. It was first purchased in 1909 for $7,734.
--Sources: U.S. News and World Report, The Great American Carousel, Herschell Carousel Factory Museum, National Carousel Association.

 

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