The smiles and laughter which carousels inspire is a centuries-old tradition; in fact, today’s carousels are the proud inheritors of a rich history stretching back 1,500 years.
The earliest known record of a carousel device is a Byzantine etching from 500 AD which portrays riders swinging in baskets tied to a centerpole (the Byzantine Empire consisted of varying parts of present day Italy, Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey from 395 AD to 1453 AD). Evidence of carousel-like activities in ancient Mexico and India has also been uncovered.
Yet, the origins of the word "carousel" actually have a more direct connection to their modern mechanical brethren than do the above forerunners of the ride itself. Carousel is derived from the words "garosello" (Italian) and "carosella" (Spanish), both of which mean "little war" and were used to describe the serious game which Italian and Spanish crusaders saw Arabian and Turkish horsemen playing in the twelfth century: little clay balls filled with scented water were tossed back and forth between the riders; losers were those who missed a catch and smelled of perfume for days as a consequence.
The crusaders brought this game back to Europe, where it spread to various countries, including France in the late fifteenth century. The French called the game "carrousel" and ultimately transformed it into a grand event of pageantry and horsemanship. A highlight of the "carrousel" was the ring-spearing tournament in which riders used their lances to spear small rings suspended between two posts while moving at full gallop. This activity required a steady lance, advanced horsemanship, and a sharp eye – qualities which came mainly through experience and practice.
Such practice became more convenient in France around 1680, when someone had the idea of hanging legless wooden horses from arms attached to a centerpole; young princes then trained for the tournament by "riding" these figures and attempting to spear small rings dangled along the outer edge of the device as it was powered round and round by a horse, mule, or servant. Thus, the carousel as we know it was born, albeit in very rudimentary form. (Here, also, we see the source of the phrase "grab the brass ring" – more on that below.)
Soon thereafter, local craftsmen began producing an increasing number of these relatively simple machines as it became apparent that other members of the nobility, particularly ladies and children, and the general public were both eager to climb aboard this new "carrousel," too (the device having taken the name of the royal pageants which inspired its creation).
Carousels subsequently started appearing in other parts of Europe and even America over the next two centuries (sporadically in the 1700s, but more steadily in the early and mid-1800s), all the while taking various forms and undergoing several innovations, including the introduction of non-horse figures, power supplied by hand-crank, and figures riding on wheels or on arms emanating from the bottom, rather than the top, of the centerpole. In addition, the ring-catching tradition of France’s young princes was preserved through devices which allowed the rider to either spear a ring with a mini-lance or reach out and grab one by hand.
It was also during this period that the carousel started to pick up some of the many different names it is known by the world over: roundabouts, gallopers, and tilts in the United Kingdom; caroussels and "maneges de chevaux de bois" in France; stoomcaroussels in The Netherlands; torneos in Italy; karussels in Germany; and flying horses, carousels, whirligigs, steam riding galleries, carry-us-alls, flying (or spinning) jinnies, hobby horses, and, of course, merry-go-rounds in America.
Despite this growing popularity, carousels continued to be limited in their further development by the relatively primitive power sources then readily available: horse, mule, or man. All that changed in 1870, however, when an English engineer-manufacturer named Frederick Savage found a way to improve upon his contemporaries’ initial efforts to apply steam power to carousels, thereby increasing the feasible size and scope of these machines (the modification accelerated the switch from figures hanging by free-swinging chains to ones sitting atop a sturdy platform suspended from the centerpole’s arms). Within a few years of this enhancement, Robert Tidman, an amusement ride manufacturer from England, designed one of the first up-and-down cranking devices that gave the horses their now-familiar galloping motion.
Building upon these innovations, the modern-day carousel rapidly took shape, guided by the tradition of artistry and music which had been handed down in one form or another since France’s original "carrousel" pageants. Machines could now support two and three (eventually up to five) concentric rows of elaborately carved wooden horses and various other animals ("menagerie" figures), as well as the many decorative panels and trimmings which were used to give the carousel a grand appearance by hiding its mechanics. Musical accompaniment also evolved, from the simplicity of a drum or set of bells to the rich sounds of a band organ.
Consequently, public demand for carousels reached new heights in much of Europe and America, rising steadily in the years approaching the turn of the century and then truly booming in the two decades following 1900. This demand was further stoked by the increased number of amusement parks built on both continents during the latter period which provided numerous additional sites for a ride that previously had been found mainly in picnic groves, fairs, town parks, and seaside resorts. Wherever it was located, the carousel became a central part of a magnificent social event, as crowds of people in their "Sunday best" would climb aboard a favorite steed or just sit and listen to the lively music while enjoying the breeze generated by the machine.
With a growing market came new suppliers. In Europe, the beginnings of more formal, if sporadic, carousel production can be traced to the work of pioneers like Germany’s Michael Dentzel in the 1830s, but full-time manufacturers did not appear until Fritz Bothmann, also of Germany, opened a carousel business in 1883. Bothmann’s machines proved popular, but competition soon escalated, as more than fifteen companies opened over the next three decades, including: C.J. Spooner and J.R. Anderson, both of England; Bayol, Coquereau et Marechal, and N. Henri de Vos of France; and Heyn, Muller, Hubner, Buhler, and Poeppig, all of Germany.
A general carving style emerged from each of these three regions. English carousel figures were the easiest to identify because their "romance" side (the side which faced out and thus received more detailed carving) was on the left, unlike most other European and all American figures, whose outer side was on the right. This difference stemmed from the clockwise direction of English carousels which encouraged riders to mount their horse properly from the left and was a result of the fact that the ring-catching game so popular in continental Europe and America never caught on in England. Conversely, carousels in the U.S. and the rest of Europe rotated counter-clockwise to leave the right hand free to reach for the ring.
English figures bore distinctive artistic features, too – they had ornate trappings and were often big enough to carry more than one rider. Across the Channel, French carvers specialized in menagerie figures like cows, pigs, dogs, rabbits, elephants, and giraffes, and regularly produced machines that consisted of just one type of animal. In Germany, carousel figures were less lavish than their English counterparts, yet very similar in both facial expression and body position.
Simultaneous to these events in Europe was the rise of the American carousel industry. Crude, hand-cranked machines had appeared in the U.S. by the early nineteenth century and underwent incremental improvement for several decades thereafter, but America’s development of more modern carousels owes much to Gustav A. Dentzel, who emigrated from Germany in 1860 and quickly established a cabinet-making shop in Philadelphia. Inspired by his father, Michael, who had built a number of carousels back home (see above), Gustav soon constructed his own small machine which was greeted enthusiastically by the public, and, around 1867, he began to advertise himself as a "caroussell builder."
In 1870, after a move to larger quarters in nearby Germantown, Dentzel erected his first full-size carousel at Smith’s Island, a popular amusement resort located in the Delaware River opposite Philadelphia’s bustling Market Street. The ride proved a huge success, so Dentzel took it on a tour of the surrounding states, including stops in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Richmond, Virginia. Such widespread public exposure helped fuel America’s fascination with carousels, and, one by one, additional companies arose to meet this increasing demand.
One of the first of these new entrants was Charles I.D. Looff, a Danish immigrant and woodworker who erected a carousel on New York’s Coney Island in 1876 consisting of figures and decorative panels he had carved in his spare time. The ride was an instant hit and encouraged Looff to devote more of his time and resources to this fledgling industry.
As the Dentzel and Looff operations both grew, they each developed a particular style of carving which has continued to influence American carousel manufacture to the present day. Dentzel and his craftsmen employed elegant, expressive carvings in producing a "Philadelphia" style of more realistic and regal figures, often with militaristic trappings. Looff’s "Coney Island" style, on the other hand, was comprised of more fanciful and animated figures which sported eye-catching adornments like jewels.
Another American carousel maker emerged about the same time as Looff: he was Charles W.F. Dare, and his New York Carousal Manufacturing Company factory was located not far from Looff’s Brooklyn plant. From the mid-1870s until his death in 1901, Dare produced mostly small, primitive machines, though one remains the oldest operating platform carousel in the U.S. today (the "Flying Horses" of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts dates from 1876).
The next two manufacturers to appear were practitioners of yet a third carving style known as "Country Fair" consisting of simple figures for use mainly on portable carousels which were built with travelling shows or country fairs in mind, hence the name. In 1882, Allan Herschell co-owner of the Armitage-Herschell Company of North Tonawanda, New York, convinced his partner, James Armitage, of the growing market for carousels. Their first "steam riding gallery" rolled out of the factory the following year and put a twist on the carousel’s traditional mechanics by replacing the centerpole and its radiating arms with a platform that rode on a circular track. The machine was also one of the earliest to include a small mechanical organ whose jaunty tunes have since become synonymous with carousels.
By 1893, "Colonel" Charles Wallace Parker of Abilene, Kansas, had decided that America’s Midwest could use its own full-time carousel maker, and, within a year, he opened a factory to produce portable machines crafted in the "Country Fair" style as well. The success of Parker’s ride, later nicknamed the "carry-us-all," enabled him to expand his business to include a full range of amusement equipment.
Three last manufacturers round out the list of those who were most prominent in the early development of the U.S. carousel industry. In 1903, Henry B. Auchy and Chester E. Albright established the Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC; known today as Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters), with the aim of building "finer and better carousels and coasters." The firm employed some of the greatest carvers of the 1900s-1920s whose exquisite work in the "Philadelphia" style allowed PTC’s carousel operations to outlive most of its competitors.
Celebrated master carver Marcus Charles Illions was the next to start his own carousel business, though he’d already been creating figures for over twenty years. Originally from Poland, Illions had studied under England’s Frederick Savage before coming to the U.S. around 1888. From his Brooklyn shop, Illions did freelance work for such carousel pioneers as Looff and amusement entrepreneur William F. Mangels. The latter partnership resulted in several machines, including the famed rebuilding of Coney Island’s landmark Feltman carousel after it was partially destroyed by fire around the turn of the century. In 1909, M.C. Illions & Sons Inc. began production at a nearby site, where its owner continually maintained a high standard for his "Coney Island" style creations, with their trademark gold leaf manes and flamboyant poses.
Three years later, in 1912, Solomon Stein and Harry Goldstein opened the Artistic Caroussel Manufacturing Company in Brooklyn. While they took particular pride in their "Coney Island" style carvings, the firm’s main source of distinction stemmed from the massive size of both its figures and its entire carousels (machines with up to five, and reportedly six, rows). Moreover, in contrast to the above firms who produced varying numbers of different menagerie figures, the trio stocked their carousels with horses only.
One possible explanation for this last characteristic is that they had learned from their predecessors’ mistakes. Since the carousel’s earliest days, it had contained figures other than horses, beginning with gondolas and balloons followed later by a bevy of wild and domesticated animals. This tradition of variety continued in America, whose carvers expanded the range of animals and changed the gondolas to chariots or tubs. However, carousel makers soon discovered that children didn’t like menageries as much, or were even intimidated by them; instead, they wanted a "horsey" to ride. By the 1920s, production of menagerie figures had significantly diminished.
Despite the reduction in menageries, plenty of outlets for a carver’s creative expression remained via the horses, chariots, and decorative pieces that graced a carousel, and this was crucial, for the incredible talents of these artisans were the key to the magic and majesty of the machines built in the U.S. during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Many of the best carvers moved back and forth among the first manufacturers, or spent several years working independently, thus a detailed discussion of their accomplishments would be too lengthy for this historical survey. Still, in addition to our previous look at such legendary carvers as Dentzel, Looff, and Illions, no review of the carousel’s development would be complete without mention of the whimsical figures of Salvatore Cernigliaro, the realistic military trappings of Daniel C. Muller, the eye-opening embellishments of Frank Carretta, the spirited carvings of Charles Carmel, and the graceful lines of John Zalar.
With tools in hand, these and other gifted craftsmen gave us what has come to be known as the "golden age" of the wooden carousel in America, which extended from around 1880 to the early 1930s. During this time, carousels became ever-more artistically grand and technologically advanced, the latter a result of constant innovation. Gustav Dentzel’s first steam-powered machine in the 1870s was followed by a host of additional improvements, including the increasing spread of electricity in place of steam and Mangels’ 1907 patent of an overhead cranking mechanism that produced a smoother galloping motion and is still in use today.
This period also witnessed a boom in "children’s delights," which were simply kiddie carousels mounted on small trucks or horse-drawn wagons that roamed city streets bringing joy to countless kids, though the phenomenon was short-lived. Conversely, the time-honored tradition of ring-catching continued to enthrall young and old alike, with a free ride to anyone who could "grab the brass ring" and a head full of straw for those few who tumbled off in the attempt.
One peculiar characteristic of the "golden age" was a common belief among the general public that many of the carousels they were riding had been built in Europe. In actual fact, only a handful of European machines were ever shipped over to the U.S.; keen competition from America’s own carousel makers, as well as high tariff and transport costs, made such a venture unprofitable, if not almost impossible. That having been said, export opportunities did exist, as evidenced by the delivery records of the Spillman Engineering Corporation (a descendant of the Armitage-Herschell Company) which show shipments to the Philippines, South Africa, Japan, Italy, Australia, Azerbaijan, Singapore, France, and elsewhere.
The cause of America’s confusion during this era over the origins of its carousels was two-fold. First, a majority of the earliest band organs which began accompanying machines from the mid-1880s were actually imported from Germany, France, and Italy. The overseas factory locations emblazoned on their gilded facades were usually the only visible manufacturer’s markings anywhere on the entire carousel, thus giving patrons the impression that the ride was foreign-made. This misleading situation was further exacerbated following the successful unveiling of a genuine German carousel, "El Dorado," at Coney Island’s Steeplechase Park in 1911; hoping to capitalize on such exotic glamour, many U.S. operators made phony claims that their carousels were German, too.
Cases of mistaken identity attributable to band organs started to decrease during this period, however, as America developed the ability to produce its own versions of this magnificent device. Established in 1891 by the Armitage-Herschell Company to supply organs for its machines, the North Tonawanda (N.Y.) Barrel Organ Factory was the first of these domestic manufacturers. In the early decades of the twentieth century, several more companies followed, including the famous Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, as well as others like Artizan Factories Inc. and Stinson. These firms played an important role in the "golden age" of America’s wooden carousels, for the brassy, thumping music emanating from their elaborate organs was, and still is, an integral part of the ride’s magic.
In the latter half of this famous era, portable carousels made by both C.W. Parker and Herschell-Spillman (another descendant of Armitage-Herschell) found their way to Mexico in increasing numbers as part of travelling carnivals and fairs. Such machines greatly influenced the carvers who went on to pioneer the Mexican carousel industry, beginning with Mucio Juarez in the 1920s, followed by his protégé Ricardo Flores and Flores’ students, Luis Ortega and Ismael Serrano.
Located mainly in the state of Puebla south of Mexico City, these and other craftsmen built movable carousels stocked with small ornate yet muscular figures for locally-based carnival operators who criss-crossed the country. While the Mexican industry still produces some wooden carvings for its carousels, most are now aluminum figures cast from molds of the pioneers’ original creations.
This evolution in Mexico’s carousel making process was a result of developments that had begun to affect both American and European manufacturers as early as the second half of the "golden age" period, just after the dawn of the twentieth century. In the first few decades of the 1900s, the introduction of the reproducing pantograph (which could "rough out" the bodies and heads of six carousel figures at a time from one preset pattern) fueled an industry boom. A shortage of raw materials caused by World War I further widened adoption of this and other advanced manufacturing techniques, such as the use of aluminum for selected portions of the figures.
The financial distress resulting from the global economic depression of the 1930s provoked a final, conclusive wave of conversion to these new, more cost-effective methods, including completely aluminum figures, and thus brought an end to the "golden age" of hand-carved wooden carousels. Soon thereafter, the all-encompassing turmoil of World War II significantly impacted and altered the industry yet again, first with its demands on manpower, supplies, and machinery, then through the technological innovations which emerged in the early 1940s and were refined during the post-war period.
The most notable of these advances, in terms of carousel manufacture, were improvements in the production and durability of fiberglass. Over the next quarter century, fiberglass gradually supplanted aluminum as the favored material for figures, chosen by contemporary carousel makers for its strength and later its molds that could replicate the detailed patterns created by the master carvers of the "golden age."
While these modern methods are the nuts and bolts of today’s industry, the spirit of those grand turn-of-the-century machines remains ever-present. We see it not only in the molds based on classic carvings and the bright artistry of an entire ride, but also in the wooden figures still being produced for existing and new carousels by the aforementioned Mexican craftsmen, companies like The Carousel Works and Carrousel Magic!, both of Mansfield, Ohio, USA, and a new generation of talented individual carvers throughout the United States.
So the next time you climb aboard a carousel, perhaps you’ll see it as more than just an amusing and enjoyable ride; in actuality, a rich past and an enduring legacy make it a timeless tradition connecting past, present, and future generations.