Frequently asked questions
Despite inaccurate claims on Wikipedia and elsewhere that the carousel was built in 1904 for the St. Louis World’s Fair, the Jantzen Beach Carousel was actually built in 1921 for installation on a pier in Venice, California. When its original owner, J.A. Ellis, fell behind on payments, it was repossessed and placed in storage in Long Beach, California in 1924.
C.W. Parker, sometimes referred to as America’s “Amusement King,” owned a factory in Leavenworth, Kansas, best known for manufacturing shooting ranges and portable carousels designed for traveling carnivals. The carousel that would come to reside at Jantzen Beach was one of just four elaborate “park” model carousels designed by Parker for permanent installation vs. traveling use. It is the only one still in existence.
The carousel operated at the amusement park for 41 years. When the amusement park was torn down and replaced by the Jantzen Beach Center mall, the carousel was preserved as the sole surviving attraction from the park. The carousel remained part of the mall until 2012, when it was disassembled and placed in storage.
The Jantzen Beach Carousel was nominated for a spot on Restore Oregon’s Most Endangered Places list back in 2012 following the demolition of its pavilion. As part of its Most Endangered Places (MEP) program, Restore Oregon provides hands-on technical support to help protect Oregon’s cultural heritage. The carousel’s listing as an MEP established Restore Oregon as the most evident steward to receive donation of the carousel from its former owners. However, this donation did not come with any funds to cover the cost of storage, insurance or restoration. Restore Oregon spent the first two years of its stewardship raising the money needed to house and care for the carousel before it could afford to begin restoration planning in earnest.
The Jantzen Beach carousel weighs approximately 20 tons and has a diameter of nearly 67 feet. Its center mast is a towering 28 feet tall! One of the largest wooden carousels in North America, it features four rows of 72 horses and two chariots, with another 10 horses serving as spares. Most of the 82 horses are original to the carousel. However, several are even older and suspected to have come from the C.W. Parker Baby Q carousel which also operated at Jantzen Beach during the amusement park’s early years.
On November 18, 2022, a multi-gallery exhibit sharing both the history of the Jantzen Beach Carousel and the preservation planning work Restore Oregon has conducted over the past two years opened at the Oregon Historical Society. In December 2022, a pipe burst and flooded the North Wing of the museum, forcing the exhibit to close until the building could be repaired. The exhibit reopened earlier this year and is scheduled to close on September 24, 2023.
September marks six years of “temporary” stewardship by Restore Oregon. With preservation planning complete and the pandemic mostly behind us, we believe it is time to move this project forward to the next stage, and we believe the carousel will be in excellent hands at the National Neon Sign Museum.
The carousel must be housed indoors in a climate-controlled building measuring roughly 100 by 100 feet, with a center clearspan of 73 feet. The pavilion’s foundation needs to be able to accommodate the carousel’s weight of 20 tons without riders. To ensure its long term viability, the carousel also needs to have support functions nearby such as restrooms, event space, a gift shop, and restoration facilities. While the National Neon Sign Museum will need to construct a pavilion to house the carousel itself, all of the other necessary support functions already exist within the existing museum building, which should help keep pavilion construction costs manageable.
The carousel was last fully restored in 1995. After 17 years of heavy use and over a decade in storage, it requires cleaning, repainting and significant repairs. Although several horses and a cherub shield from the carousel’s canopy have been restored, full carousel restoration will take several years. Fortunately, Restore Oregon created and tested a Preservation Roadmap to guide the National Neon Sign Museum with future restoration.
Founded in 1977, Restore Oregon works on the front lines and behind the scenes to empower Oregonians to reimagine and transform their communities through the preservation and reuse of historic and cultural places. We believe in a vibrant and equitable Oregon where historic preservation and reuse is crucial to solving the problems we face locally, statewide, and globally. As a statewide, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Restore Oregon represents thousands of community activists, homeowners, preservation-minded investors, and supporters and users of historic places across Oregon. We advocate for effective preservation policies and incentives, deliver preservation-focused education programs, and directly intervene to save endangered places. Learn more at www.restoreoregon.org.
Located in the heart of The Dalles Commercial Historic District, the National Neon Sign Museum captures the history, craftsmanship, and culture that shaped America, as viewed through the lens of the signage and advertising industry. With a focus on the evolution of the electric sign, from pre-electric and gold leaf signage, to the invention and widespread use of plastic, the museum’s assets represent one of the largest collections of neon storefront signs in the world.
The collection boasts an expansive range of signage and artifacts related to the sign industry, including many one-of-a-kind signs and displays that cannot be viewed publicly anywhere else in the world, including one of the rarest groupings of West Coast petroleum signs ever assembled, such as Richfield-‘Eagle,’ Seaside, Polly, Associated, and the Buffalo sign. Many long lost signage icons are displayed on full-scale, authentic storefront replicas. The museum is also home to thousands of vintage pieces of documentation and ephemera. Learn more at www.nationalneonsignmuseum.org .
The National Neon Sign Museum is located off Exit 84 on Interstate 84 Eastbound and Exit 85 Interstate 84 Westbound. More than 8 million cars travel by these exits annually, per 2019 figures from ODOT. Since its opening, the museum has become one of the top attractions in the Columbia River Gorge. More than 100 cruise ships bring guests to The Dalles annually (more than 30,000 visitors per cruise season, pre-pandemic), docking less than 4 blocks from the National Neon Sign Museum and The Dalles’ downtown shopping district.
Aside from being a successful tourist attraction in its own right, The National Neon Sign Museum owns and occupies two parcels located at 200 East 3rd in The Dalles, Oregon. On one parcel sits the museum, which is housed within a fully-restored former Elks lodge that was constructed in 1910 and occupied by the fraternal organization until 1980. The museum building is home to both exhibit space and painting and gold leaf facilities where carousel restoration can take place in the future. The building also houses important support functions for the carousel such as restrooms, event space, and a gift shop. The National Neon Sign Museum parcel on the property is an adjacent surface lot where museum leadership intends to build a new carousel pavilion.
Sheltered from precipitation by the rain shadow of Mt. Hood, The Dalles is a sunny Oregon destination widely considered the eastern gateway to the Columbia River Gorge. Surrounded by high desert, forests, fields of wheat, fruit orchards and vineyards, and adjacent to the Columbia River, the area offers abundant opportunities for outdoor recreation including cycling, fishing, hiking, rafting, camping, boating, rock climbing, and more. Known for its rich history and strong track record of historic preservation and reuse, The Dalles is home to an annual Northwest Cherry Festival, a delightful collection of outdoor murals including those created as part of Northwest Muralfest, terrific food, drink and shopping options, a vibrant music scene, great volunteer opportunities, and the National Neon Sign Museum. For more information, please visit https://explorethedalles.com/ .
The National Neon Sign Museum is accessible by car, CatBus and river boat. Amtrak stops just across the Columbia River in Bingen, Washington; and within the next few years, people should also be able to bike from Portland to The Dalles via the Historic Columbia River Highway and State Trail.
(Restore Oregon 2023)