Merrie Way

The ferris wheel at Merrie Way.

circa 1900.

Amusement parks captured the American imagination after New York's Coney Island was transformed from a seedy area into a park with thrilling rides in 1895. That same year, Merrie Way became an outdoor extension of Sutro Baths. Called a "pleasure ground" and "midway," the short street held several rides and sideshows relocated from the 1894 Midwinter Exhibition in Golden Gate Park.

At its peak, Merrie Way had a Ferris wheel, roller coaster, indoor mirror maze and a "Haunted Swing." All the hoopla came to a quick end, however. The infatuation with amusement parks in this time burned hot and fast, and was over around 1910, and so was Merrie Way. The last vestige of the midway, the Firth Wheel, was tom down in 1912. Decades later, a resurgence in amusement parks ushered in a new attraction: Playland at the Beach.