In Agawam, Massachusetts, there is a section of Main Street where the smell of machine grease and fried dough permeates a parking lot large enough to land a small airplane. Turnstiles are shuffled past by families wearing flip-flops. Holding their phones tightly, teenagers record each other yelling while riding coasters that twist against the sky of the Connecticut River valley. At first glance, it appears to be just another Six Flags park. However, the area beneath all that artificial excitement has been welcoming guests since 1870, making it one of the oldest amusement parks in the nation and unquestionably the oldest in Massachusetts. The majority of people who enter the gates are completely ignorant.
Superhero-themed rides and roller coasters weren’t the original features of Six Flags New England. It began as Riverside Park, a small picnic area by the river where families from Springfield and the neighboring towns congregated on summer afternoons. Thrill rides, cotton candy vendors, and costumed characters prowling themed areas were all absent. All that was there was grass, shade, and whatever people had put in their baskets. It’s possible that no one involved anticipated the grove would still be in operation a century and a half later, let alone attracting more than a million visitors annually under a nationally recognized corporate banner.
Over several decades, the metamorphosis gradually became apparent. Early in the 20th century, a carousel and a few other small rides were introduced. After purchasing Riverside Grove in 1911, a man by the name of Henry J. Perkins started transforming it into something more akin to a real amusement park. Between 1912 and 1928, he added three roller coasters. Long before the theme park industry grew to be a multibillion-dollar enterprise, Perkins appeared to sense something about the American desire for artificial excitement. At this distance, it is difficult to determine whether he was a visionary or merely an opportunist making wise wagers.
The place was almost destroyed by the Great Depression. After being forced into foreclosure, Riverside Park was abandoned until Edward Caroll Sr. bought it and reopened it in 1940. Thunderbolt, the oldest roller coaster in the entire Six Flags chain, was constructed by Caroll and is still standing today. That ride, built during the war, has endured decades of ownership changes and corporate reorganizations while still rattling along its original bones while newer coasters with more ostentatious names rise and fall around it. There’s something subtly amazing about that.
After purchasing Riverside in 1996, Premier Parks combined with Six Flags two years later. The park formally reopened as Six Flags New England in 2000 after investing over $120 million in renovations and new attractions. The rebranding was extensive. You would never believe that the location was once little more than a shaded clearing and a hand-cranked carousel, given its ten themed zones, twelve roller coasters, and Superman-branded hypercoaster dominating the skyline. Even though it’s easy to pass it without pausing, the 1909 Illions Grand Carousel is still in operation inside the park, spinning silently among all the steel and fiberglass.
Places like this seem to be engulfed by their own prosperity. The older, stranger identity beneath the Six Flags name virtually vanishes due to its enormous commercial weight. You’ll probably get a blank stare if you ask someone who’s leaving the park about Riverside. Even though the rides continue to get faster, the corporate layer is thick enough to erase 130 years of local history from casual memory, which feels like a small loss. The oldest continuously running amusement park in North America is Lake Compounce in Bristol, Connecticut, which dates back to 1846. However, Agawam’s park is right behind it, tied for the second oldest in the nation, and may even be far more well-known, though no one knows why.
It’s still unclear if Six Flags will continue to embrace its heritage or if the former Riverside name will continue to fade into trivia-night obscurity. As of right now, the park is open on weekends through spring. Daily operations will resume in June, and online tickets start at about $35. The address, 1623 Main Street, Agawam, is the same as it has been for many generations. The picnic grove has long since vanished. However, something from 1870 remains, hidden beneath the clamor, just waiting for someone to take notice.
