Leap-The-Dips

Leap-The-Dips at Lakemont Park in Altoona, Pennsylvania, is a wooden roller coaster built in 1902 by the Federal Construction Company from a design by E. Joy Morris. Regarded as the world’s oldest standing roller coaster and likely the last surviving side-friction figure-eight coaster, it preserves an early stage of roller-coaster development before under-track wheel systems became standard after World War I. The gentle ride runs through two and a half figure-eight circuits on wooden trestles. Closed in 1985, it was saved from demolition by a preservation campaign, restored with traditional carpentry, reopened in 1999, and recognized as both a National Register property and a National Historic Landmark.

Lakemont, Pennsylvania · United States