Salem Willows Park Opens for Business

Salem Willows Park, a 35-acre waterfront site at the tip of the Salem peninsula, was named for European white willow trees planted in 1801 for patients at a nearby contagious disease hospital. After that “pest house” burned in 1848, the area was designated a city park. In the summer of 1877, the Naumkeag Street Railway Company began horse-drawn trolley service between the Willows and downtown Salem and started building an amusement park on adjacent land. The new, improved Willows Park opened for business on June 10, 1880, and quickly became popular for its shaded walkways, picnic pagodas, and amusements. Residents came for shore dinners, the shooting gallery, and roller skating at the Willows Pavilion, arriving by streetcar, bicycle, or on foot, while some stayed at new hotels in the nearby Juniper Point neighborhood. Fireworks, music and theater programs, high wire acts, and balloon ascensions drew huge crowds, and the Salem Evening News reported 5,000 visitors in a single day. A ban on alcohol sales also helped the park’s early success by keeping out the “rough element” that troubled other seaside resorts.

Salem, Massachusetts · United States