Sans Souci Amusement Park
Life Span: 1899-1912
Location: 60th and Cottage Gove
Architect: N/A
- Lakeside Business Directory of the City of Chicago, 1907
Sans Souci Park Cottage Grove av sw cor 60th
Sans Souci Skating Rink Co 60th sw cor Cottage Grove av
Inter Ocean, May 7, 1899
San Souci park, the new amusement garden at Sixty-First street and Cottage Grove avenue, will open for the season on Saturday, May 27th. The main auditorium theater and clubhouse has been finished, and hundreds of workmen are now engaged in completing the electric fountain and the numerous concessions. The park occupies nearly all of the block bounded by Cottage Grove and Langley avenues, Sixtieth and Sixty-First streets. It covers ten acres of ground, and is filled with 100 high-class amusements. Shade trees and lawn plots give the grounds an appearance entirely lacking in the ordinary amusement gardens. Among the many features of the park the most noteworthy are the open-air theater, the electric fountain, and the Japanese tea gardens. In the theater two performances dally will be given, with an entire change of bill weekly. Vaudeville and light operas will be alternated on the stage. The electric fountain is situated in a large lagoon, on which aquatic sports and contests are to be held. Log-rolling contests and other sports entirely new to Chicago amusement seekers have already been billed. The fountain is the largest in the world, and it will be operated every evening. The Japanese tea garden occuples a large plot of ground, and a building erected by a firm from the Mikado’s kingdom is designed for a teahouse. The garden is an exact production of the native ones. San Souci park is under the management of W. H. Carter and J. B. Sturtevant, who state that they intend to operate it as a resort for “fashionable pleasure seekers.”
Inter Ocean, June 23, 1907
SAN SOUCI’S MANY NEW ATTRACTIONS
Replenished With Myriads of Enjoyable Features, It Is Proving a Veritable Mecca for Chicago’s Amusement Seekers.
Thousands enjoy the beauties of Sans Souci every day, and every day this great place for amusement seekers is crowded. Sans Souci is the mecca for all Chicagoans wha want to enjoy the very best amusement features at the least possible cost. People in practically every part of the town can reach Sans Souci for a 3 cent fare, and by utilizing the transter system can arrive at the gates without any unnecessary delay.
Everything New This Season.
A great many of the residents of Chicago, especially those who live on the South Side, have already visited Sans Souci this season, and favorable comment has been heard from all in regard to the complete transformations of this attractive park.
Only the best of the old features remain. Practically everything is new as the result of an enormous sum of money having been expended to install the most popular attractions.
Entering the gates, the first principal attraction is the depot for the Scenic Railway. one of the most expensive and best constructed rides ever built. The passengers, upon boarding one of these trains, are drawn by a steel cable up an incline of over seventy feet. The cable being released, permits the train by force of gravity to go down an incline through dark tunnels and then up and down a series of inclines and ascents at a peed of seventy miles an hour. The train is kept in perfect control by the guards who manipulate the brakes. Adjoining the Scenic Railway is the Roller Coaster, one of the most delightful features in the park. There are no abrupt of unpleasant twists and turns. The cars dash around the track at an seemingly terrific speed, sufficient to furnish the passengers with a succession of thrills and pleasant sensations.
In the Vaudeville Theater.
The Vaudeville Theater, seating nearly 500 people, presents to the patrons of Sans Souci many of the best acts seen in the largest vaudeville theaters.
The airship tower offers a pleasant ride among the clouds and gives the patrons one of the most magnificent panoramic scenes.
The new Dance Pavilion, with its fine orchestra, furnishes an opportunity for all those who are interested in terpsichorean art.
The Roller Skating Rink, built at an expense of $100,000 this year, is said to be one of the finest of its kind in the country. Here the many prominent social elubs of the South Side gather and enjoy themselves as they never have before.
Famous Musical Features.
The band concerts in the Casino are given by some of the most famous musical organizations now traveling in the United States.
The restaurant, which is under the direct control of the management, is undoubtedly the most popular place for the gathering of friends at meal time.
The midget land, with its interesting little people, affords another interesting entertainment in conjunction with Psycho, the wonderful magnetic phenomenon, whose skill and strength are almost unbelievable.
An evening at Sans Souci Is an evening of delightful experiences.
Inter Ocean, June 23, 1912
It is currently reported that San Souci park, at the southwest corner of Cottage Grove avenue and Sixtieth street, is to abandon its whirligigs and thrillers and become a staid summer music garden, similar to the Bismarck garden on the North Side. According to the report, a syndicate of amusement promoters has secured a twenty-five year lease on the premises, and will make ibe changes indicated during the next thirty days, retaining the skating rink and dange hall in order to secure as much of this year’s business as possible. It is said a prominent brewery has offered $100,000 for the beer concession and that the Chicago City Railway company will also contribute largely to the enterprise, in the belief that such a venture will prove successful.
NEW SAN SOUCI GARDENS.
The new management of the “New Sans Souci Gardens” which is a veritable fairyland, announce their formal opening for this afternoon.
Everything is new. The work of hundreds of laborers, mechanics, and landscape gardners has completely transformed the spacious old amusement park into a veritable fairyland of flowers, attractive buildings, and inviting pleasure spots. Every wall that affords opportunity, every patch of ground that offers a haven for growing things is banked with dwarf trees, shrubs, flowers and broad leaved plants.
The new management of “New Sans Souci Gardens” wants it understood that theirs is not an Amusement Park of devices, but a beautiful garden which will surpass anything in America and as beautiful as the famous gardens of Paris, Nice, Florence, or Venice.
Every point is fraught with beauty and a wealth of free entertainment will be furnished. The management’s one desire has been to make the “New Sans Souci Gardens” a place for delightful social gayeties-dancing music, teas, and theatricals. An attractive place for people to meet.
Creatore and his Italian Band will charm the music lovers. There will be the beautiful Casino, with a big, special, French Cabaret performance. In the “Venetian Garden” will be served a special supper for one dollar, which will be unexcelled in cuisine. There is also the dancing pavilion under the direction of Professor Harry Miller.
The Gardens will accommodate 10,000 persons and a protected automobile parking space has been provided for 1,500 automobiles.
Admittance will be twenty-five cents.
- San Souci Park
Southwest corner 60th and Cottage Grove
1912
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