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The Old White City Amusement Park
at the Natatorium, circa 1930s.
From the Idaho State Historical Societies Oral History collection OH1099. Boise citizen Clarence Moser recalls fun times at the Amusement Park at the Natatorium.
“Every 4th of July we would always... go to the Natatorium. It cost you a nickel to ride the streetcar out to—lot’s of times that nickel was hard to come by, but you had to have at least that much because it is going to cost you to ride on the stuff out ... to White City Park. They had a scenic railway. It was all made out of wood, and had track that ran up and down and way up high and come around ... Well, I’ve rode on several since then. But that was the first time I’d ever seen anything like that. And they had a fun wheel. You’d pay your money and go upstairs and then kind of a balcony. But they had a big centerpiece flooring that was a big circle. Everybody would get on there and the one that could get the closest to the center of it would be there last. And we used to get on there and lock arms with a person on the other side of the circle so we could stay on it and that thing would start spinning. And, of course, the people would fly in all directions. And if you missed—they had cushions to hit against. But they had a slide and if you hit it, you slid outside and you was through. You couldn’t get back in unless you paid another ticket. But we tried to avoid that at all costs to see how long we could stay on this fun wheel, is what they called it. They had a little steam train; that really took my eye. I loved that little steam train. They used to take the kids clear around this little amusement park. And it was about, I’d say the track would take in about a square block. It had a tunnel and it had a bridge that you went over and all that stuff. It was quite a ride. Then the skating rink, ... I used to go skating out there. I just loved to skate. I’d rather skate than eat.”
Oral History Clarence Moser OH1099 ISHS