Kiddieland Closing | Chicago, America Losing its Childhood

Of Kiddieland and things past

“The time at our disposal each day is elastic; the passions we feel dilate it, those that inspire us shrink it, and habit fills it.”
- Marcel Proust, “Remembrance of Things Past”

When something that was a cherished part of your childhood goes away, inspired days are replaced by tomes of old habit. It is a cause for sadness. Such is the case for many who grew up in Chicago during the past 81 years, for Kiddieland soon will be no more. Even if the owners borrow money or a get a quick loan, it won’t change the fact that the Chicago institution is going to close.

The city’s oldest operating amusement park

Kara Spak reports for the Chicago Sun-Times that after 81 years of operation, Kiddieland will be closing its doors come Fall 2009, when the tourist season closes. That’s when the owner’s current lease on the park expires, according to co-owner Tom Norini.

Kiddieland was founded in 1929 in Chicago’s Melrose Park. The closure follows a dispute between the park and land owners.

“It’s sad and it’s disappointing but it’s just a business thing,” Norini said. The park, which featured the types of rides and games ideally suited for young children, was a Chicagoland tradition.

Forgetting your worries

The lease for the Melrose Park institution is currently held in a land trust by the family of Arthur Fritz, Kiddieland’s founder. Fritz opened the park during the Great Depression with the hope that it would provide temporary sanctuary for families from the economic troubles of the day. The current recession has brought back echoes of the Great Depression, so it’s a shame to see such places for family fun just disappear.

Over the years, members of the extended Fritz family have managed Kiddieland, including Tom Norini.

The land owners wanted to close them sooner

According to Spak, there was a dispute between the Fritz family and the family that owned the Melrose Park land upon which Kiddieland is located. This dispute made its way into a courtroom in 2006, where the landowners attempted to break Kiddieland’s lease with a lawsuit. Admittedly I am not privy to all of the details, but I find it disconcerting that the legal system could have taken this treasure away from children even sooner. Thankfully, it didn’t happen.

Norini is unsure as to what will be done with the Kiddieland plot of acreage, which is in fact quite valuable land located at North and First Avenue in Melrose Park. The appearance of surveyors and soil testers on the land (at the behest of the landowners) in recent months showed that a lease renewal for Kiddieland was unlikely.

No anger, just sadness

“There’s no anger or animosity,” Norini said. “The land trust has been very good to us and given us a very attractive lease rate.”

“We don’t have a huge audience but we have a very loyal audience,” he continued. “That audience renews every time there is a new generation born.”

Kiddieland’s last day is September 27. If the landowners simply want more money, perhaps every single working Chicagoan who enjoyed the park as a youth can borrow money in the form of a quick loan and help save Kiddieland. It would be a worthwhile investment in the joyous past.

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