During my grade school years one of the highlights of my young life was when my parents decided to spend some time at the park. Even though Saint Paul is today riddled with parks; in those days of the fifties, only two parks really mattered: Phalen Park and Como Park. Como was my favorite park.
Both parks afforded ample space for picnicking; both were green shady places to gain some relief from the summer sun and enjoy eating a picnic lunch while batting away the mosquitoes and chasing the wind-driven paper plates across the green shady grass.
It really wasn't the Como Zoo; one visit to the strange wild animals incarcerated in their respective jail cells or the monkeys trapped on their stone island was quite enough for me (Note: Como Zoo today is a much different place than it was in the fifties). It wasn't the Conservatory—a place my parents would drag me along to experience intense pre-teen boredom.
It WAS the rides! Como Park had the best rides this side of the State Fair Midway and unlike the State Fair rides, they were open all summer long! Of all the rides at Como there were two that stand out in my memory. The first had, if I recall correctly an Alice in Wonderland “Mad Hatter” theme. Put simply it was made up of several large teacups that rotated in a circle. Each teacup had a wheel in the center that would make the cup spin as it rotated; the harder you pulled the wheel the faster the cup would spin. I think the object of the ride was to make the occupants so dizzy that at ride's end walking was nearly impossible.
The second ride was far more sedate—yet it remains my favorite—a replica of a forties era passenger train. It had a somewhat long run through the park with railroad crossings at sidewalks and if memory serves even a tunnel. I imagined myself traveling to distant places and the adventures I'd have.
The train is long-gone except in my fuzzy memories. Even though I probably wouldn't fit into the kid-sized cars very well; I wish I could ride that train just once more.
