My main purpose for coming to Philadelphia at this particular time is personal, but, I am glad that I have been able to enjoy the city and the surrounding suburbs. I went to the mall earlier in the week - Willow Grove Park Mall! This mall sits on grounds that used to house contraptions for fear and pleasure! This land once had an amusement park on it - Willow Grove Park. We had many wonderful family reunions and teenage excursions visiting and picnicking at the park, which had a wooden roller coaster. Willow Grove Park opened in 1896 as a trolley park to encourage weekend ridership on the trolley line. Willow Grove Park was one of the premier amusement parks until it it was eclipsed by parks such as Six Flags, Great Adventures and Disneyland. One of the biggest attractions in the park was the music pavilion, at which John Philip Sousa and his band played all but one year between 1901 and 1926. The pavilion was demolished in March 1959.
After its closure in 1976, the park sat vacant until the land was cleared for a large shopping mall, now known as Willow Grove Park Mall, which opened in August 1982. The mall pays homage to its predecessor by displaying banners and other objects which looks back to the land's days as an amusement park; a merry-go-round built and installed in 2001 also operates within the mall.
I am not much of a shopper, but the strawberry cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory is to die for!
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