With much fanfare, and expensive advertising, the Jantzen Beach amusement park opened on Saturday, May 26, 1928 (The Morning Oregonian, 26-May-1928)
With the opening of Jantzen Beach all of Oregon will welcome an amusement spot that sets as a jewel in America’s Great Outdoor Playground – the Pacific Northwest. Clear, sparkling water, over 1,000,000 gallons every eight hours, will flow into the mammoth swimming pools which are considered the finest in point of cleanliness for swimming and competition in America. They present in themselves a model for the nation to follow.
The park also featured the Big Dipper roller coaster, the largest of its kind in the west, a Tilt-a-Whirl, The Skooter bumper cars, and a spacious promenade. And the park was easy to get to:
Hop the trolley at Broadway and Washington or drive out to the Interstate bridge. You can’t miss it. Right on the highway, set in the waters of the Columbia river on Hayden island.
Visit PDXHistory.com for more of the story of Jantzen Beach, including an impressive collection of postcards and other memorabilia.
Favorite place in the 60’s. We had the Postal Picnic, Shriners Picnic there. As an adult I collected the old arcade games from the park. Always still on the hunt for memobillian of the Park.