How Did The Wave Machine Work?

In 1913, the Schenck brothers began to construct what would be billed as the largest outdoor saltwater pool in the world at Palisades Amusement Park. It would be as wide as a city block and three times as long, with an island at its center on which swimmers could recline.

But the Schencks wanted more than just the world's largest pool. The brothers hired William F. Mangels, a well-known inventor who five years earlier had patented the system that gave carousel horses their galloping movement, and they directed him to design and install a wave-making machine for their novel swimming pool. This is how the wave machine worked.

The 1 2 million gallons of saltwater needed for the pool were siphoned from the Hudson River at high tide by enormous pumps. Before entering the pool, the water flowed through six large filters to clear it of any contaminants.

On June 8, 1913, the large pool officially opened at Palisades Park. Billed as being able to accommodate ten thousand swimmers, the pool was constructed entirely of concrete. Its depth ranged from a few inches to fourteen feet; at the deepest end, diving boards built from hickory timbers lined the sides. Bathhouses were divided equally among the sexes and provided accommodations for more than two thousand bathers. The Park even offered free swim instructions to all patrons.

Every night at eleven o'clock the entire pool was drained, a process that took an average of five hours to complete. Six barrels of lime were used to thoroughly clean the bottom and all the walls. The pool was then refilled in plenty of time for the early morning bathers.

Author Alan Brennert Releases newest novel: "Palisades Park"

by Vince Gargiulo

A new novel, PALISADES PARK, by the award-winning writer, Alan Brennert, is scheduled to hit book stores on April 9, 2013. This is one book you will want to add to your library.

PALISADES PARK is not only a gripping tale of a New Jersey family, but a fabulous tribute to the famous Palisades Amusement Park.

This book is wonderfully written. Each character becomes an endearing part of the overall storyline, with many of the them being well-researched real life people who were part of the Palisades family. Although it is a fictional work, Mr. Brennert has taken Herculean efforts to ensure its accuracy. Every detail about the times and places mentioned in the book are historically accurate.

Click Here to Buy "Palisades Park"
 
The book begins in 1922 with a family outing to the New Jersey fun center. It weaves its way through time, with Brennert brilliantly mixing world events (The Depression, Pearl Harbor, World War II, the Civil Rights movement) into the storylines of both the characters and the New Jersey amusement park. The story spans five decades, ending in 1974.

The plot revolves around the Stopka family: Eddie and Adele and their children Toni and Jack. The characters in this book are skillfully blended together with actual park employees; Bunty Hill, Arthur Holden, Anna Cooke, Jack and Irving Rosenthal, John Rinaldi and more. They will all capture your heart, especially Toni (given name Antoinette, much to her dismay). While working at her parents' french fry stand at Palisades, Toni is drawn to the lure of the salt water swimming pool directly across the midway from the family concession. She learns the ins and outs of swimming, diving, and eventually high diving from a platform 105 feet in the air.

As Executive Director of the Palisades Amusement Park Historical Society, I was pleased to have been asked by Mr. Brennert for assistance in the research of Palisades Amusement Park. While I like to think I know all there is about the history of the park, there are always new things I discover from time to time. On those occasions that he would ask me a question about the park that had me stumped, Alan would call me back a week or two later with the answer. He is tenacious when it comes to staying true to history. I've never known an author who put more research into the writing of a novel than Alan Brennert. His detailed use of Palisades as the backdrop for this book will definitely bring back many fond memories for the baby boomers who grew up in the New York / New Jersey area.

When I turned the final page of the book, I was sad that it had ended... in my opinion, the mark of a great book! PALISADES PARK is a must read or anyone who enjoys an engrossing novel, for everyone who ever visited the legendary Palisades Amusement Park, and for anyone who treasures their memories of happier days gone by.

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FROM THE PUBLISHER:

PALISADES PARK SUMMARY:

Bestseller Alan Brennert’s spellbinding story about a family of dreamers and their lives within the legendary Palisades Amusement Park.

Growing up in the 1930s, there is no more magical place than Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey—especially for seven-year-old Antoinette, who horrifies her mother by insisting on the unladylike nickname Toni, and her brother, Jack. Toni helps her parents, Eddie and Adele Stopka, at the stand where they sell homemade French fries amid the roar of the Cyclone roller coaster. There is also the lure of the world’s biggest salt-water pool, complete with divers whose astonishing stunts inspire Toni, despite her mother’s insistence that girls can’t be high divers.

But a family of dreamers doesn’t always share the same dreams, and then the world intrudes: There’s the Great Depression, and Pearl Harbor, which hits home in ways that will split the family apart; and perils like fire and race riots in the park. Both Eddie and Jack face the dangers of war, while Adele has ambitions of her own—and Toni is determined to take on a very different kind of danger in impossible feats as a high diver. Yet they are all drawn back to each other—and to Palisades Park—until the park closes forever in 1971.

Evocative and moving, with the trademark brilliance at transforming historical events into irresistible fiction that made Alan Brennert’s Moloka’i and Honolulu into reading group favorites, Palisades Park takes us back to a time when life seemed simpler—except, of course, it wasn’t.

ALAN BRENNERT/ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Alan Brennert grew up in Edgewater, New Jersey, at the foot of the Palisades. He won an Emmy Award in 1991 for his work as a writer-producer on L.A. Law, and was nominated for two other Emmy Awards as well as a Golden Globe. He won a Nebula Award for his story “Ma Qui.” The author of the national bestsellers Moloka’i, a “Bookies” award-winner for Book Club Book of the Year, and Honolulu, winner of Elle’s Lettres 2009 Grand Prix for Fiction, he lives in Sherman Oaks, California.

The 100th Anniversary of the Salt Water Pool

Palisades Amusement Park always boasted of having the world's largest outdoor salt water pool. But did you know that pool first opened to the public in 1913?

Soon after the park was purchased by Nick and Joseph Schenck, the brothers decided they needed something to compete with their nearest competition, Coney Island. Well Coney had rides... Palisades had rides. Coney had games... Palisades had games. Coney had colorful midways... Palisades had colorful midways. But Coney Island had one thing that Palisades Amusement Park lacked... AN OCEAN!

So the Schenck brother decided that since they could not move Palisades Amusement park down the Jersey shore, they would do the next best thing. They would move the Jersey shore to Palisades. In the winter of 1912, they began to construct what would become the world's largest outdoor salt water pool. It was as wide as a city block and three times as long. The one and a half million gallons of saltwater needed for the pool were siphoned from the Hudson River at high tide by enormous pumps. Before entering the pool, the water flowed through six large filters to clear it of any contaminants.

On June 8th, 1913 the large pool officially opened billed to accommodate ten thousand swimmers, the pool was constructed entirely of concrete. Its depth ranged from a few inches to fourteen feet; at the deepest end, diving boards built from hickory timbers lined the sides.  Bathhouses were divided equally among the sexes and provided accommodations for more than two thousand bathers. The park even offered free swimming instructions to all patrons.

The pool became the number one hangout for patrons seeking a refreshing dip in the crystal clear waters of the pool. It remained the most popular attraction at the Park right up to the time it closed in 1971.

This year, we celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the Palisades pool. And to capture those memories, the Fort Lee Museum will be presenting an exhibit focused on the pool. This will be in conjunction with the release of a new novel, by the Emmy-Award-winning writer, Alan Brennert. The book Palisades Park is a spellbinding story about a family of dreamers and their lives within the legendary Palisades Amusement Park. The publisher describes the story as:

Growing up in the 1930s, there is no more magical place than Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey—especially for seven-year-old Antoinette, who horrifies her mother by insisting on the unladylike nickname Toni, and her brother, Jack. Toni helps her parents, Eddie and Adele Stopka, at the stand where they sell homemade French fries amid the roar of the Cyclone roller coaster. There is also the lure of the world’s biggest salt-water pool, complete with divers whose astonishing stunts inspire Toni, despite her mother's insistence that girls can't be high divers.

But a family of dreamers doesn't always share the same dreams, and then the world intrudes: There's the Great Depression, and Pearl Harbor, which hits home in ways that will split the family apart; and perils like fire and race riots in the park. Both Eddie and Jack face the dangers of war, while Adele has ambitions of her own—and Toni is determined to take on a very different kind of danger in impossible feats as a high diver. Yet they are all drawn back to each other—and to Palisades Park—until the park closes forever in 1971.

Reading this book is a wonderful experience. And Mr. Brennert will be at the Fort Lee Museum at 7:00PM on April 7, 2013 to kick off his book signing tour of Palisades Park. The Museum will also be hosting several other Palisades Amusement Park events throughout the year. I will keep you posted.