A Brief History of Carousels

Sometime in the 1100's, Arabian and Turkish riders played a raucous game on horseback. They took it very seriously, so seriously that on-looking Italian and Spanish crusaders described the contest as a "little war", or "Garosello" and "Carosella" respectively. The crusaders brought the game back to Europe where it became an extravagant display of horsemanship and finery that the French called "Carrousel."

A major event of the "Carrousel" was the ring-spearing tournament on which a man would ride his horse full tilt, lance in hand, toward a small ring hanging from a tree limb or pole by brightly colored ribbons. The object was to spear the brass ring.

About 300 years ago, a Frenchman got the idea to build a device to train young noblemen in the art of ring-spearing. His device consisted of crudely carved horses and chariots suspended by chains from wooden spokes radiating from a centerpole. This was probably the beginning of the carousel as we know it.

By the late 1700's there were numerous machines built solely for amusement that were scattered throughout Europe. The devices were small and light, their size and weight limited by what could be cranked by man or pulled by horse. These limitations were removed by the invention of the steam engine. The power of steam made possible the elaborate carousels of today.

Gustov Dentzel pioneered the modern carousel in America. Of German descent, Dentzel opened his carving shop in Philadelphia in 1876. Many talented men followed his lead, including Marcus Illions, Charles Carmel, Daniel and Carl Muller, and the carvers of the Philadelphia Toboggan Co., C.W. Parker, Herschell-Spillman Co., and Allan Herschell Co. Their creations became the centerpiece of thousands of amusement parks and trolley company resorts and traveling carnivals across America and Canada.

Few of the old carousels of Europe could match the product of these immigrant American craftsmen. Ingenious men, their carousels became bigger and more elaborately housed. Animals were more beautifully carved and styled. There were war horses, indian ponies, and horses straight out of a child's dream. Animals of the jungle chased those of the plains and farms and forests. Dogs, cats, teddy bears and mythical beasts graced the American carousel.

The golden age of the American carousel paralleled that of the trolley companies, 1880-1930. The Great Depression of the 1930's saw the demise of the wooden horses, and the trolleys soon likewise disappeared from the American scene.