Arrow Development Supplied America's Theme Parks

Many amusement and theme parks across the country have featured attractions developed and built by the Arrow Development Company. Parks with Arrow attractions have included Disneyland and another that was billed as the "Disneyland of the East" -- Freedomland U.S.A. in New York City.

Founded during 1946 by Karl Bacon, Ed Morgan, Bill Hardiman and Angus Anderson, Arrow originated as a machine shop just north of downtown Mountain View, California. By 1949, the company started building playground equipment, merry-go-rounds and horses, and kiddie rides for amusement parks.

A few years later, Arrow’s owners responded to an inquiry from Walt Disney about its design for a sternwheel paddle boat. While that connection did not float, Disney did hire the company to help design and build the ride systems for several of Disneyland’s other early attractions. These included Mad Tea Party, King Arthur Carrousel, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Casey Jr. Circus Train, Snow White’s Scary Adventures, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Autopia and Alice in Wonderland.

As Disneyland’s original general manager, C.V. Wood worked closely with Arrow. After Wood parted with Disney to design his own parks that included Freedomland (1960-1964), he commissioned Arrow for its expertise in creating attractions. For Freedomland, Arrow built several attractions—Spin-A-Top and the freeway cars for the Satellite City Turnpike—that had been adapted from rides created for Disneyland. For the park, Arrow designed and built about
one half million dollars of attractions, including antique cars for the Horseless Carriage, two Danny the Dragon electronically guided trackless trains, horse-drawn streetcars, and four dark rides: Buccaneer, Earthquake, Mine Caverns and Tornado. Several publications erroneously have reported that Freedomland featured only three Arrow-designed attractions.

Arrow's Highland Historian

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, according to Arrow historian Dexter Francis of Highland, Arrow continued to create ride systems for Disney and other parks. Significant advancements in flume rides and coasters are credited to Arrow.

Francis’ knowledge about Arrow has been included in a new book about the Freedomland park. Freedomland U.S.A. – The Definitive History documents the entire story from conception to bankruptcy of one of the most innovative and beloved theme parks in America. It is available on Amazon at the suggested retail price of $24.95.

While Freedomland (visit the Facebook group) survived only five seasons, to this day the park is recalled by many guests who enjoyed its American history-themed attractions that included Arrow's designs. Contrary to what has become an urban legend, Freedomland's failure was not caused by the grand opening of the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair.

Excerpts from Francis’ book, Building Disney’s Dream: Arrow Development: The Little Company That Could, are featured in the Freedomland book. Specifically, the excerpts are recollections about the Freedomland dark rides by park guests.

Francis also publishes a blog about Arrow development and he administers an Arrow Facebook page.

What Happened To Freedomland?

Freedomland U.S.A. was the third park conceived and built by C.V. Wood and his Marco Engineering Company. Unknown to Wood and the general public at the time, the Freedomland property owner, local politicians, city planners and construction unions considered the park a "placeholder" until property variances permitted significant development on Bronx marshland.

Freedomland declared bankruptcy upon compliance with the variance provisions. This provided the green light for the construction of Co-op City, the largest cooperative housing community in the world. A shopping center was added about a decade later and an indoor mall was constructed on the remaining land during 2012.