Forest Park

This short-lived amusement park at Independence Ave. and Hardesty opened in 1903, touting a horse track, glass-blowing, pony rides, a merry-go-round and a laughing gallery. Forest Park also featured an ape house, where visitors could enter the large round structure and poke some poor monkeys in cages. It sounds like quite a bit of fun – I’m particularly curious about the laughing gallery – but closed just 9 years later in 1912.