Articles

There was an art to playing Skee Roll. I remember the grip of the hard, wood-like ball, perfecting my throw for speed and accuracy, the sound it made in contact with the alley, and the triumph when the ball hit its target hole.Then came the thrill of watching tickets spitting out at the side of the lane in a strip stretching longer as I played on, game after game.

Amazingly, people who rode our "mouse" still remember its emotional impact 45-years after it was dismantled. As early as 1998, Boardwalk management began to investigate a return of a new version of the Wild Mouse. See what happened to our plan...

From its earliest years, the Boardwalk has been a mecca for kids. A 1914 photo shows a cluster of activities on the beach – several swing sets, two tall slides, a teeter-totter, balance beam, and other play structures. Find out more about the history of kids rides on the Boardwalk. 

The Wild Mouse's popularity in other amusement parks excited our family of employees and concessionaires. The job of bringing these pieces together at the Boardwalk fell to Maintenance Superintendent Bill Fravel, Sr. and his maintenance and construction team. Before they could take the much anticipated first spin, they needed to focus on getting it built and open as early and as safely as possible for the 1958 summer season.  

Freddie Quadros began performing in the Boardwalk Plunge at the age of 11. By the time he was 12, he was a star performer in our famous Plunge Water Carnival. The spectacular water shows drew crowds of spectators from 1927 to 1945. We were thrilled when Fred stopped by the Boardwalk to share his incredible childhood memories.

This unusual photo was contributed to our collection of stories and images on the Boardwalk Memories webpage over a decade ago. Ray and Victoria posed for a photo along the Boardwalk in the 1920s, but what was that structure in the background? Recently, a series of hand drawings, dated 1927, surfaced in our archives. The mystery might be solved.