# Touristy things you went to that don't exist any more **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 14, 2026, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touristy-things-you-went-to-that-dont-exist-any-more/1030073 "2026-05-14T17:32:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touristy-things-you-went-to-that-dont-exist-any-more/1030073/41 "2026-05-14T19:52:39Z")
Riverview Park in Chicago - the best amusement park around. Operated from 1904 to 1967, torn down to become a parking lot. From my aunt’s high-rise apartment, you could see the lights of the Parachute Drop at night. I still remember the year I was finally tall enough to ride it. > **[Riverview Park (Chicago)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverview_Park_(Chicago))** > > Riverview Park was an amusement park in Chicago, Illinois, United States which operated from 1904 to 1967. It was located on 74 acres (30 hectares) of land in the Roscoe Village neighborhood of Chicago's North Center community area. > Riverview Park was established in 1904 by William Schmidt, on the grounds of his private skeet shooting range. The Schmidt family owned and operated the park for its entire lifetime. > Bill Haywood, leader of Industrial Workers of the World, once spoke at the park t... [https://www.wttw.com/chicago-stories/amusement-parks/a-right-of-passage-the-history-rides-and-legacy-of-riverview-park](https://www.wttw.com/chicago-stories/amusement-parks/a-right-of-passage-the-history-rides-and-legacy-of-riverview-park) ---
**Author:** ![Ancient\_Nerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@Ancient\_Nerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ancient_Nerd)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touristy-things-you-went-to-that-dont-exist-any-more/1030073/42 "2026-05-14T19:57:56Z")
Sam’s Place on US 50 in the foothills east of Sacramento on the way to Lake Tahoe. It was a huge video arcade with cafeteria style fried chicken. It was a good place to grab some dinner on the drive from the SF Bay area to go skiing for the weekend. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touristy-things-you-went-to-that-dont-exist-any-more/1030073/43 "2026-05-14T20:07:23Z")
It was called the “Newseum,” and it was great. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touristy-things-you-went-to-that-dont-exist-any-more/1030073/44 "2026-05-14T20:07:26Z")
I came here to say this! It was 1999 and was already pretty desolate. In a big theatre, there were maybe 20 people watching the acrobats. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touristy-things-you-went-to-that-dont-exist-any-more/1030073/45 "2026-05-14T20:10:40Z")
On the subject of amusement parks: [Kiddieland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiddieland_Amusement_Park) & [Adventureland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventureland_(Illinois)) in the Chicago area; [Pontchartrain Beach](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontchartrain_Beach) in New Orleans. We moved to the New Orleans area in time for that park’s final season. I went there at least twice, including Independence Day. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touristy-things-you-went-to-that-dont-exist-any-more/1030073/46 "2026-05-14T20:16:21Z")
Walker-Gordon Farms in Central New Jersey used to have the **Rotolactor** , often described as a “merry go round for milking caws”. You put the cow on at one station and hooked it up to the milker. The thing rotated slowly, and by the time it got back to its starting point the cow was finished, could be disconnected, and another take its place. The thing serviced" six to eight cows – I don’t remember. The Rotolactor was left over from the 1939 World’s Fair. They shut it down several years ago, after hosting tons of Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops and flocks of school kids, when Walker Gordon closed its doors in 1971. > **[Rotolactor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotolactor)** > > The Rotolactor is a largely automatic machine used for milking a large number of cows successively using a rotating platform. It was developed by the Borden Company in 1930, and is known as the "rotary milking parlor". > The Rotolactor was the first invention for milking a large number of cows using a rotating platform. It was invented by Henry W. Jeffers. The Rotolactor was initially installed in Plainsboro, New Jersey. The rotating mechanical milking machine was first used by the Walker-Gordon L... I believe there’s still a Rotolactor in Australia that’s still running. The Rotolactor may be gone, but you can still visit **Elsie the Cow’s Grave**. “Elsie” was her stage name. Her real name was the enigmatic “You’ll Do Lobelia” > **[Tombstone of Elsie the Cow, Plainsboro, New Jersey](https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/3316)** > > Pay your respects at the gravestone of the most famous commercial cow in history. Her farm is now a townhouse development. The town museum maintains an exhibit. [https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7449959/you’ll\_do\_lobelia](https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7449959/you%E2%80%99ll_do_lobelia) Easier to find, I think, is the Monument to Orson Welles’ “War of the Worlds” broadcast in the Grovers Mill section of West Windsor, NJ. My sister-in-law was instrumntal in getting this done. [https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/monument-to-the-war-of-the-worlds](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/monument-to-the-war-of-the-worlds) > **[Martian Landing Site Monument, Grovers Mill, New Jersey](https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2749)** > > Ground Zero for Orson Welles' radio drama "War of the Worlds" alien invasion of Oct. 30, 1938. Both Elsie’s Grave and the Monument are still there, of course, but it’s notable that they mark places where nothing actually happened. Elsie is really buried somewhere else. And neither Martians nor Lectroids invaded New Jersey in 1938. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touristy-things-you-went-to-that-dont-exist-any-more/1030073/47 "2026-05-14T20:18:30Z")
Ohh, forgot about that one. Great fun when the river was (is?) bigger than a trickle in a gutter. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touristy-things-you-went-to-that-dont-exist-any-more/1030073/48 "2026-05-14T20:22:53Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I believe there’s still a Rotolactor in Australia that’s still running. Those kinds of devices on a large scale are bog standard milk production equipment today. One being part of a theme park, or the original “rotolactor” branded device may well be long gone. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touristy-things-you-went-to-that-dont-exist-any-more/1030073/49 "2026-05-14T20:27:20Z")
New Hampshire’s _Old Man of the Mountain_ rock formation In Franconia Notch collapsed and slid down Cannon Mountain in 2003. Its visage is _still_ plastered all over New Hampshire memorabilia. Other defunct New Hampshire attractions I have been to: Benson Wild Animal Farm Six Gun City Fantasy Farm Heritage New Hampshire Weirs Beach Water Slide Weirs Beach Drive-In ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touristy-things-you-went-to-that-dont-exist-any-more/1030073/50 "2026-05-14T20:43:03Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > New Hampshire’s _Old Man of the Mountain_ rock formation In Franconia Notch collapsed and slid down Cannon Mountain in 2003. Darn, you _just_ beat me to it. - [Whalom Park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whalom_Park) - at the time it closed it was the 13th oldest amusement park in the US - [Edaville Railroad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edaville_Railroad) - although it still seems to have some very limited seasonal operations at a new location, after having opened and closed multiple times over the years. - The [Pink House](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_House_(Newbury,_Massachusetts)) at Plum Island ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touristy-things-you-went-to-that-dont-exist-any-more/1030073/51 "2026-05-14T20:47:40Z")
I saw The Old Man in the Mountain in New Hampshire. This would have been about 1985. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > Both Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm still exist on more or less the same land they occupied in the 1960s. Beyond that, little inside their perimeter is still as it then was. KBF has mutated far more than DL has. For those who are interested in all the changes in Disney parks over the years, I stumbled across a great site that explains them. Attractions that have come and gone, attractions that have changed, and so on. Plenty of photos from back in the day, and in some cases, photos showing the attraction evolving. Looking through that site, I can see plenty that has changed since my visits to Disney parks. Here you go: > **[Yesterland - Disneyland History & Other Disney Park History](https://www.yesterland.com/)** > > Yesterland, a Theme Park on the Web, > featuring Discontinued Disneyland Attractions ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touristy-things-you-went-to-that-dont-exist-any-more/1030073/52 "2026-05-14T20:52:10Z")
I grew up in Toronto. We used to have a great entertainment complex built on artificial islands and futuristic pods right on the lakeshore called [Ontario Place](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Place). A great example of 1970s urban utopianism, it featured great attractions for children and adults alike: an adventure playground, a waterpark, a concert stage, an Imax theater called the Cinesphere, and so on. Some of the venues remain but unfortunately, the amusement park is long dismantled. The Cinesphere is still there but in 2022 was closed for renovations. Another Toronto attraction that was both highly educational and highly entertaining was (and technically still is) [the Ontario Science Centre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Science_Centre). This science museum was the subject of many a school field trip and family outing when I was a kid and featured a multitude of artefacts, temporary exhibitions, and interactive exhibits, as well as educational presentations, lectures, and films. In 2024, the monumental original 1960s brutalist building was closed because the Ontario government claimed it was in need of repairs. Since then, the exhibits have been housed in vacated mall spaces, and now the Science Centre operates again, but in a smaller building on Toronto’s Harbourfront. This is an interim location pending the construction of a permanent, but still smaller building to house it. Staying in the educational vein, we have the [McLaughlin Planetarium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLaughlin_Planetarium), centrally located between the Royal Ontario Museum and the University of Toronto’s Falconer Hall. Between the ages of 6 and around 11, I had quite a few visits to this place with family or with school. Again, this was a very educational and entertaining venue, perfect for finding something to do on a weekend. This was closed in the 1990s during another bean-counting government’s term of office and never re-opened as a planetarium or properly re-purposed. [And now it is finally being demolished](https://www.blogto.com/real-estate-toronto/2026/05/planetarium-demolition-toronto/). What a shame. 😢 Just remembered another, the CN Tower, one of Toronto’s best-known landmarks, featured an attraction from 1985 to 1992 called [Tour of the Universe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_of_the_Universe). It was a space shuttle flight to Jupiter. The experience included an elevator trip forward in time to the year 2019 and a simulation of a space port. I experienced the ride in Grade 2 in 1987 when, during a day off school my after-school daycare took us on a field trip there. To an imaginative seven-year-old (at that age I was a bit like Calvin in “Calvin and Hobbes”), it all seemed very realistic; IIRC, I think I actually believed we had gone to the future, to space, and back and my father had to explain to me what a flight simulator was when I told the story to my family in the evening. For what it’s worth, [I recommend watching this short original promo for the attraction.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfjcbsYQK1I). ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touristy-things-you-went-to-that-dont-exist-any-more/1030073/53 "2026-05-14T20:53:12Z")
Wow, I’ll have to fall down that Yesterland hole when I have more time! ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touristy-things-you-went-to-that-dont-exist-any-more/1030073/54 "2026-05-14T20:54:52Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > By Press Museum do you perhaps mean the [Newseum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newseum)? It started in Roslyn, VA, in 1997, and relocated to a huge new building in DC in 2008, but sadly closed only 11 years later. It was an excellent museum with many impressive and well-designed exhibits. Damn! This is the third thing I can add to my list, and I’m not even that old! My college honors journalism class went on a field trip from Kent, Ohio to Washington DC to visit the Newseum in 1999. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touristy-things-you-went-to-that-dont-exist-any-more/1030073/55 "2026-05-14T21:00:32Z")
Does East Berlin count? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touristy-things-you-went-to-that-dont-exist-any-more/1030073/56 "2026-05-14T21:05:05Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I went with my family to [Opryland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opryland_USA) back in the day, though I don’t remember much about it. We went to Opryland twice when I was a kid; I do have some memories of it. (It was a country-music-themed theme park, in Nashville, and was built in the early '70s to complement the then-new Grand Ole Opry House. The theme park was shut down after the 1997 season.) I’ve visited the [Wisconsin Dells](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_Dells,_Wisconsin#Economy) many times. It’s a tourist area in central Wisconsin, somewhat analogous to Niagara Falls, in that the original attraction was the area’s natural features, and a kitschy tourist industry sprung up around it. I’d been to a lot of the “old-school” tourist attractions which were popular in the 1950s through 1980s/1990s, which have since been torn down for more modern attractions and hotels: things like Storybook Gardens, Fort Dells, Stand Rock Indian Ceremony, Wonder Spot, the Tommy Bartlett Show, and probably more. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touristy-things-you-went-to-that-dont-exist-any-more/1030073/57 "2026-05-14T21:06:31Z")
Two more: North of Wilmington, NC, is the **Orton Plantation** , which was the most boring place on Earth. You couldn’t even get into the plantation house. It has closed permanently, no big loss. If you want to see what it looked like in its heyday, watch the Drew Barrymore version of **Firestarter** , where she looses all sorts of pyrotechnics on the property and blows it all to Hell. Ocala, FL, had **Silver Springs Attraction** , which was my favorite place in the whole wide world until they shut it down. Boat rides, live animals (a jeep safari ride drove right up to the animals) and glass bottom boat rides in the crystal clear spring water. They had big name concerts during the summer (saw Blood, Sweat & Tears there) and their season pass was ridiculously inexpensive; we went every Friday afternoon for the better part of a year. I can’t tell you how sad I am they had to close. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touristy-things-you-went-to-that-dont-exist-any-more/1030073/58 "2026-05-14T21:14:48Z")
I just remembered a small tourist trap that used to be near us. Pollardville was an ersatz Western ghost town on Highway 99 just outside Stockton. As a kid, we hardly ever went there because my parents disagreed substantially from the owners’ politics. They went out of business nearly 20 years ago, and the owners tried to market the property to developers of small housing tracts. Unfortunately, 2007-8 was a crappy time for the real estate industry in this part of California, so the property sat. And sat. And sat. It’s still sitting, fenced off in a vain attempt to prevent illegal dumping. There hasn’t been a shootout duel in front of the saloon in two decades. No train robbers to terrorize a 6-year old’s birthday party. Coincidentally, the owners’ youngest son was in the same class as our youngest at the nearby elementary school. This kid told our kid they should not be reading Harry Potter because witchcraft is sinful. He was right, but for the wrong reason. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touristy-things-you-went-to-that-dont-exist-any-more/1030073/59 "2026-05-14T21:14:56Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Looking through that site, I can see plenty that has changed since my visits to Disney parks. Here you go: > > [https://www.yesterland.com/](https://www.yesterland.com/) Thanks for that–I expect I’ll lose a lot of time exploring it. I grew up in SoCal and of course loved D-land, Knotts, Universal Studios, Marineland of the Pacific, and all the rest that are either gone or greatly changed. I also LOVED the Exposition Park museums, which still exist but have been often reworked (as one would expect). The huge rose garden and the California Museum of Science and Industry were favorites. I always used to look forward to seeing the Mathematica hall, the baby chicks, and Shirley Temple’s extensive doll collection. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematica:\_A\_World\_of\_Numbers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematica:_A_World_of_Numbers)…\_and\_Beyond ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touristy-things-you-went-to-that-dont-exist-any-more/1030073/60 "2026-05-14T21:29:38Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Ocala, FL, had **Silver Springs Attraction** , which was my favorite place in the whole wide world until they shut it down. Boat rides, live animals (a jeep safari ride drove right up to the animals) and glass bottom boat rides in the crystal clear spring water. They had big name concerts during the summer (saw Blood, Sweat & Tears there) and their season pass was ridiculously inexpensive; we went every Friday afternoon for the better part of a year. I can’t tell you how sad I am they had to close. I was there not long ago and can confirm that the glass bottom boat rides are still operating, though the site was converted into state parkland some years back. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touristy-things-you-went-to-that-dont-exist-any-more/1030073.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touristy-things-you-went-to-that-dont-exist-any-more/1030073.md?page=4)