Old Chicago - Bolingbrook, Illinois

Old Chicago
Bolingbrook, Illinois
My Old Chicago

My fascination with Old Chicago began in a field back in the spring of 1975. The field was Clow International Airport in Bolingbrook which back then was just a grass strip that Cessna's and Piper Cubs flew in and out of. I guess it was an "international" airport because someone once flew to Canada from there. The airport was hosting a fly in where people could walk around and check out the planes. I was three at the time and my Dad was always into aircraft so we ended up out there walking around the planes.

At the end of the field was something that changed my life.

It was the lead car to the Chicago Loop rollercoaster. In the bright spring sun it glowed as if it were made of solid gold. It sat on a couple of pieces of wood with a little sign next to it promoting the soon to open Old Chicago Amusement Park and Shopping Center.

The car pulled me in as if it were a magnet. It was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen and just couldn't get enough of it. I crawled into the seat and pulled the over the shoulder harness down and grabbed a hold of them for the ride of my life.

My Dad tried to get me to come and look at some of the planes with him but who wants to see boring old planes when you had this futuristic looking thrill machine for you to put your hands all over. He was fighting a loosing battle and he knew it. So he went on to look at the planes and I spent the rest of the afternoon crawling all over and under the car.

My life changed that day. Getting to see and touch a coaster in addition to growing up hearing family members, especially my Mother tell tales of the long gone Riverview Park and it's legendary terror machine The Bobs turned me into a lifelong roller coaster enthusiast. When I got home that day my scribbles with crayons changed. No longer were I drawing houses or our dog but they turned into loops drops and turns of the coasters that filled my mind.