The problems

One early hint at Freedomland’s doom happened only a week after it opened: a stagecoach overturned in the Great Plains, injuring ten people. Three were hospitalized and one attendee broke his spine. The park tried to deny responsibility for the accident, but a photo of the incident didn’t do that argument any favors. The injured guests eventually sued the park.

Then, on August 28, 1960, less than three months after Freedomland, U.S.A. opened, it was robbed. Four armed men stole almost $29,000 (and remember, in 1960 that was a lot more money than it is now - around $230,000 in today's money) and escaped in a boat. They were caught in two weeks, but it's not clear if Freedomland recovered the money. Either way, it was obviously a publicity disaster.

At the end of the next year’s season (1961), Freedomland, U.S.A. was a frightening $8 million in debt. That was when management started making efforts to turn Freedomland into somewhere that was more exciting for young people. They added roller coasters, bumper cars, concerts and fireworks displays to appeal to teenagers. But Benjamin Moore, a sponsor of Satellite City, sued them for $150,000 for changing the nature of the park and what he was sponsoring, wanting to void their lease in the exhibit space. The lawsuit was dismissed, but that took more time and manpower away from improving attendance at Freedomland.

The closure

Freedomland, U.S.A. declared bankruptcy in September of 1964 and started to be torn down in late 1965. Their public reason for the bankruptcy was the 1964 World’s Fair, which Walt Disney was involved with, but a lot of people don’t believe that’s the real reason, since it didn’t even open until AFTER they declared bankruptcy. One theory of why it was that there was a complex master plan for real estate moguls to develop Freedomland with the plan of converting the location to a cooperative housing complex. We’ll probably never know for sure. I think that Occam’s Razor dictates that debt makes the most sense, but it’s up to the people reading this to decide the reason Freedomland shut down for themselves.

The remnants

Freedomland lives on through a few of its attractions. Its faux Santa Fe Railroad stations went to Clark’s Trading Post in New Hampshire. Within a few years of its closure rides like The Crystal Maze, The Mine Caverns, Tornado Adventure and Danny the Dragon had made their way to The Great Escape and Splashwater Kingdom in nearby Lake George, New York. Two of its most popular rides, Pirates of the Caribbean knock-off Buccaneers and the San Francisco Earthquake attraction ended up at the Cedar Point Amusement Park in Ohio. They’ve both closed, but elements of each live on both in the theme park’s storage and in the park itself.

The legacy

Despite its very short period as an active amusement park, Freedomland has a lot of love from old-timers and just general fans of theme park history. Multiple websites have sprouted up celebrating all things Freedomland, which is a big reason I was able to write such a long article about a park that was barely open for five years. There was even a New York Times article written about the park almost fifty years after it shut down.In addition to that, a regularly-updated Freedomland, U.S.A. Facebook page has almost 3000 followers, many of whom actively engage with the photos and descriptions posted. All of that indicates that while Freedomland is long gone, it is still far from forgotten.