New Book Reveals More About Freedomland U.S.A.

Freedomland U.S.A.: More Definitive History, the latest offering from Theme Park Press (available on Amazon, Barnes&Noble and other online retailers), continues the intriguing narrative about one of the most innovative and beloved entertainment venues in the country. This new book about America’s theme park places the spotlights on a trove of recently found documents and other resources along with remembrances shared by more than one hundred employees and park guests.

Along with many Floridians, this park once was located in New York, specifically in the northeast Bronx. Entrepreneurs considered moving it to Dunedin when the property under the park was deemed appropriate for extensive development. But, that plan was scuttled once Walt Disney’s plan emerged for Florida.

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Find Freedomland on Facebook, Instagram, X/Twitter and Pinterest. The author provides presentations and welcomes the opportunity to host a number of group gatherings in Florida. Contact him at Freedomlandusa@yahoo.com .

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Freedomland lasted only five years (1960-1964). To this day, the park continues to generate fond memories among boomers who enjoyed the 85-acre playground with family and friends along with many others who are captivated by its brief but vital role on the theme park timeline.

Freedomland was conceived and built by C.V. Wood and his Marco Engineering Company. Wood was Disneyland’s first employee and he brought Walt Disney’s imagination to life by leading the team that built that park. He then created Marco Engineering to build theme parks and other venues across the country. Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington and the community of Lake Havasu, Arizona, continue to prosper.

Former Disney employees, Hollywood and Broadway creative personnel, and talent from New York City television contributed to the creation of Freedomland. Unknown to Wood and Freedomland’s fans, the landowner, local politicians, city planners and construction unions considered the park a temporary occupant of the property until land variances permitted significant development of the marshland for housing and shopping. The site for the last 50 years has been the location of Co-op City.

The previous book, Freedomland U.S.A.: The Definitive History (Theme Park Press, 2018), was believed to have documented much of the available Freedomland story from conception to bankruptcy. Official park records had been lost for 50 years and, with a few exceptions, all significant park, vendor and sponsor executives had been deceased for decades. However, following the publication of the first Freedomland book, many employees and the children of employees shared their memories and previously unknown stories. The conversations generated many interesting and significant questions that required further examination as have hundreds of family photographs and home movies along with three recently located photo archives with more than 3,500 images by park photographers. Freedomland documents in museum archives also were located in Connecticut, Delaware, New York and California.

The first Freedomland book now serves as a prerequisite to the new volume. Freedomland U.S.A.: More Definitive History reprises the roles of people mentioned in the first volume while introducing others associated with the park to further explain the many elements of the Freedomland story. Several corrections of previous assumptions and a few minor errors that appear in the earlier book are attributed to new revelations. The new book also identifies the likely source of the park’s name and the first location of park offices in the Bronx.