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09-Jan-2010 stacy dunn (spokane, wa usa)
I Really enjoyed learning about this park! I have lived here for 20 years & never knew of this park until 2 days ago, when my husband & I saw a show about it on ksps! Im sorry that my children & I will never experience Nat Park! I know we would have loved it!! What a sad ending
09-Jan-2010 Megan S (Spokane, WA U.S.A.)
I am in the middle of renovating my home, and I found a ride coupon between the floorboards: It's from the "Carrier-Salesman Picnic" on August 10th, 1944, good for ONE RIDE on the Natatorium Park Scooter! I've only lived in Spokane for 4 years, and hadn't heard of Nat Park, so I was excited to find your website and learn a bit about it! Thanks for running such a great ode to a piece of Spokane history... It made my day to find a little piece of it, and to think of the family that forgot their ride coupon for the picnic so many years ago.
06-Jan-2010 Bruce Harvey (Spokane, Washington USA)
I must have been about 10 or 11 when I saw a $50 bill in my mothers purse. Well, that $50 made a trip with me and a friend to Nat Park.
We lived at 2333 W. Providence and I had no idea where Boone street was but for some reason I knew where Nat Park was. We walked both ways. That would have been in about 1948 or 1949. Not long ago I stopped at the ComMunity CollEge and looked across the river to where Nat Part had been. I don't think I'll ever do that again. For some reason it simply made me feel sad....maybe it was that I just felt old at that point. Who knows.... It was a great place.
29-Oct-2009 Tari Birch (Kennewick, WA USA)
The virtual ride was much as I remember it from my youth. Nat Park was a favorite place to have fun in the summer. My family went together for my birthday several times and my brother and I would go together on our bikes. Many fond memories. It was a sad day when Nat Park was replaced by a trailer park. Thanks for this site to help bring back the memories.
18-Sep-2009 Mike G. (Enumclaw, Wa USA)
As a young boy I had the delight of experiencing Nat Park in the late 50's and early 60's before the family relocated to the Tacoma area due to the closure of Geiger Field Air Force Base (now Spokane International Airport).
I remember most the little gas powered cars you could drive around, what seemed like then a large track through the park, all by yourself. I also rode the rocket swing ride many, many times.
My older sister used to tell me that if I didn't hold on while riding the Jack Rabbit I could fall out and roll into the river, which as I recall was not very far away from the coaster...
On a trip to Spokane a few years ago I drove down to the end of Boone Ave. to see the old park grounds which had been developed into a trailer park of sorts.
The hospital in Spokane I was born at is now long gone. The house I lived in near Liberty Park was demolished for what is now the slow lane of east bound I-90. The Sacred Heart grade school I attended is now a parking lot and Nat Park is just a memory...Thanks for the Nat Park website!
08-Sep-2009 Bobbie Stephens (Everett, WA USA)
Thank you so much for this site. Nat Park was my favorite place to go in the 1940's and 1950's. My Dad and I would ride the carrousel together and he would catch the ring for me. Years later, my husband wrote to the Spokane Parks Department and told them how special this place was to me. They sent him a brass ring, that he gave to me for Christmas along with a musical carrousel horse (the white one).
Dad and I used to ride the bumper cars together and had wonderful memories of the park. My Grandfather was a friend of the Vogel's and once Lloyd gave him a handful of tickets. I rode the Jack Rabbit 16 times without getting off.
The virtual tour brought tears to my eyes....it was the next best thing to actually being there!
25-Jul-2009 Dianne Martinson (Boise, Idaho)
I remember going to Nat Park when I was a little girl. My most vivid memories are of the carousel and reaching for the brass ring. I can still see my mother sitting on the bleachers waving each time I went by. My husband and I just got back from a trip to Spokane and we visited Riverfront Park and rode the carousel. What wonderful memories that brought back!! Thank goodness they had the foresight to preserve and restore this wonderful carousel from Old Nat Park.
24-Jul-2009 Paul Mack (Clifton, VA USA)
I was born in Spokane - I'll always remember Nat park - was like our own private Disneyland....only better. I went back looking for it several years ago and found a trailer park - sad. Even kids today would enjoy it. There is nothing like the rough wooden roller coaster ride that makes you think your going flying into the river only to turn at the very last second. Forever fond memories of the best playground I ever knew.
09-Jul-2009 Oren Leavitt (Arlington, TX USA)
Nice site! Thanks for preserving this wonderful little piece of roller coaster history.
22-Jun-2009 Marilyn (Hayward, CA USA)
My sister and I loved Nat Park when we were kids, and spent many happy summer days there in the 1950s. We loved the rollercoaster and the rocket ships, driving the little cars around the track, and always saved a ticket for the carrousel. My sister once grabbed the gold ring! Every fourth of July, we sat on a blanket on a hill overlooking the river to watch the thrilling fireworks. Thanks for this delicious nugget of nostalgia!
