The Forest Park Carousel was built in 1903 by master wood-carver Daniel Carl Muller. Anna Gustafson/The Forum Newsgroup
This week’s ceremony celebrating the landmarking of the Forest Park Carousel was, civic leaders and legislators said, the culmination of 25 years of working to save the historic and beloved structure that residents say will now be preserved as an integral part of the community for generations to come.
Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association President Ed Wendell said he was thrilled that the carousel has been landmarked, ensuring the historic spot will be there for years to come.
“Over the years, many said it would never happen, but we had faith,” said Greater Woodhaven Development Corporation Executive Director Maria Thomson, who has for two and a half decades fought to landmark the 1903 carousel. “Today is proof that faith has been rewarded.”
Thomson joined a bevy of civic leaders, legislators and residents Monday afternoon at the carousel, which is located in Forest Park, to celebrate the merry-go-round’s landmarking.
“About 100 years from now, people will gather here…and celebrate how this carousel is 200 years old,” Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association President Ed Wendell said.
“This is something that’s permanent and connects one generation to another,” Wendell said of the carousel, which holds some of the last surviving creations of master wood-carver Daniel Carl Muller and is often referred to as the jewel of Woodhaven.
Carved in 1903 by Muller, it is a rare work of art and has been an anchor of the park since the 1970s. The carousel is comprised of 49 horses, a lion, a tiger, a deer, and two chariots.
City Landmarks Preservation Commission Robert Tierney, left, Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, and Assemblyman Mike Miller admire a City Council proclamation thanking Tierney for his support for the carousel.
“Today is a very special day – not just for Forest Park, but the whole area surrounding it,” Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village) said. “…[The carousel] will be a part of this park forever to stay.”
City Landmarks Preservation Commission Chairman Robert Tierney garnered laughter from the crowd when he joked that “it took 25 years to landmark this, and in landmark time that’s pretty fast.”
During the ceremony, a plaque detailing the history of the merry-go-round was unveiled. The plaque was made possible by support from the New York Landmarks Preservation Foundation, the Greater Woodhaven Development Corporation, the Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association, the Woodhaven Cultural and Historical Society, and Maria Thomson and her husband, Robert, among others.
“This plaque will let everybody know how important this is historically,” Tierney said.
And, residents stressed, its historical importance is something that lends great pride to Woodhaven – and Queens.
Juse one of two remaining carousels crafted by Muller, it was first operated in 1903 in Dracut, Mass. and was brought to Woodhaven in 1972 to replace a different merry-go-round that had burned down in 1966. There, the carousel turned until 1985, when it was abandoned for three years. The structure underwent an extensive renovation in 1988, after which it went through a number of operators.
Greater Woodhaven Development Corporation Executive Director Maria Thomson stands by the carousel that she fought for more than two decades to preserve.
City Comptroller John Liu, who was at Monday’s ceremony, found in a 2011 audit that New York One LLC, which ran the site until it let its contract lapse in 2008, mismanaged the carousel, as well as another one in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, by overcharging customers, maintaining little to no records of its cash transactions and violating health codes.
Once the company’s contract lapsed, community leaders fought hard to have it reopened. Last year, New York Carousel Entertainment began operating the structure.
“Since we opened, there have been more than 70,000 have taken a spin on this beautiful piece of American history,” said David Galst, of New York Carousel Entertainment. “…To be able to rehabilitate a piece of this amusement park history has been a dream come true.”
By Anna Gustafson
