Louis Kraus and
Elsie Dickens
The Amusement Park Owners
c. 1890- and 1892-
Bertrand Island Amusement Park, Mt. Arlington, NJ
Elsie Dickens (1892- ), daughter of
George Dickens and Eliza Aspinall, immigrants from
Derbyshire, England, married Louis Kraus (c. 1890- )
about 1915. In 1920 the couple lived at 73 North Munn
Avenue, Newark, NJ.
Louis was a manual arts teacher in the Newark public
school system, an occupation offering three months of
summer vacation, ideal for the seasonal operation of an
amusement park. Before 1914, he started construction of
Bertrand Island Amusement Park at Mt. Arlington on Lake
Hopatcong, New Jersey, also known as "Little Coney
Island." Louis did not own or operate most of the
attractions at the park. He was a concessionaire who
leased rights to the owners of the rides and refreshment
stands.
Bertrand Island was called a "trolley park"
because Morris County's first public transit system, the
Morris County Traction Company, operated trolley cars
beginning about 1914 to Bertrand Island Amusement Park on
Lake Hopatcong.
The park's attractions included an arcade, carousel,
roller coaster, haunted house, rides for children and
adults, dancing, refreshment stands, cafeteria, picnic
grounds, bathing beach, boat docks, and sightseeing boats.
Bertrand Island's merry-go-round began life as Bob's
Carousel on Coney Island at Stillwell Avenue and the
Bowery, beneath the Bobs Coaster. The machine was
manufactured by the Carver company in Illinois, in the
classic era of late 1800s. The customers rode horses and
other painted wood carvings three abreast. This carousel
was moved to Bertrand Island Amusement Park about 1926.
It was sold to Great Adventure when the park closed in
1983.
The famous Wildcat Coaster was constructed by the
renowned roller coaster designer Herb Schmeck in 1925.
The wooden coaster was the oldest of its kind operating
in 1984, the year it closed.
Tuesdays were discount night, and the smaller rides were
only a nickle, hence the term "nickel nights,"
and later a dime.
The park, closed in 1983, and served as the background
for Woody Allen's film Purple Rose of Cairo
shortly before its demolition.
_____
More information can be found in the book by Martin and
Laura Kane. Greetings From Bertrand Island Amusement
Park. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2000. 128 pages,
illus.. It is the history of, and a collection of
photographs about this trolley park at Lake Hopatcong, NJ.
If you have the book, please let me
know if it contains any material about Louis Kraus. My
email address is below.
Roll Family Database Link
Louis
Kraus
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