History.com has an article about the first roller coaster:
On 16 June 1884, the first roller coaster in America opened at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York. Known as a switchback railway, it was the brainchild of LaMarcus Thompson, traveled approximately six miles per hour, and cost a nickel to ride. The new entertainment was an instant success and, by the turn of the century, there were hundreds of roller coasters around the country.
Coney Island, a name believed to have come from the Dutch Konijn Eilandt, or Rabbit (coney in Old English) Island, is a tract of land along the Atlantic discovered by explorer Henry Hudson in 1609. The first hotel opened at Coney Island in 1829 and, by the post-Civil War years, the area was an established resort with theaters, restaurants, and a race track. Between 1897 and 1904, three amusement parks sprang up at Coney Island: Dreamland, Luna Park, and Steeplechase. By the 1920s, Coney Island was reachable by subway, and summer crowds of a million people a day flocked there for rides, games, sideshows, the beach, and the two-and-a-half-mile boardwalk, completed in 1923.
The hot dog is said to have been invented at Coney Island in 1867 by Charles Feltman. In 1916, a nickel hot dog stand called Nathan’s was opened by a former Feltman employee and went on to become a Coney Island institution and international franchise. Nathan’s is now famous not only for its hot dogs but its hot dog-eating contest, held each Fourth of July at Coney Island. In 2006, Takeru Kobayashi set a new record when he ate nearly sixty hot dogs, with buns, in twelve minutes.
Roller coasters and amusement parks experienced a decline during the Great Depression and World War Two, when Americans had less cash to spend on entertainment. Finally, in 1955, the opening of Disneyland in Anaheim, California, signaled the advent of the modern theme park and a rebirth of the roller coaster. Disneyland’s success sparked a wave of new parks and coasters. By the 1970s, parks were competing to create the most thrilling rides. In 2005, Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, introduced the Kingda Ka roller coaster, the world’s tallest (456 feet) and fastest (128 mph).
By the mid-1960s, the major amusement parks at Coney Island had shut down and the area acquired a seedy image. Nevertheless, Coney Island remains a tourist attraction and home to the Cyclone, a wooden coaster that made its debut there in 1927. Capable of speeds of sixty mph, with an 85-foot drop, the Cyclone is one of the country’s oldest coasters in operation today. Though a real-estate developer recently announced the building of a new billion-dollar year-round resort at Coney Island that will include a four-thousand-foot-long roller coaster, an indoor water park, and a multi-level carousel, the Cyclone’s owners have said they plan to keep the historic coaster open for business.
Rico says he's never been partial to puke-inducing rides, but knows most people are...
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