The Tilt A Whirl at the Kiddieland Amusement Park. Melrose Park Illinois USA. September 2006.

The Tilt A Whirl at the Kiddieland Amusement Park. Melrose Park Illinois USA. September 2006., a photo by Eddie from Chicago on Flickr.

I took this now historic photograph one evening, back in early September of 2006.

Night time was a special time to visit Chicago's now long gone Kiddieland Amusement Park in Melrose Park Illinois. I took this photograph facing west, from the adjacent east parking lot alongside First Avenue.

There was much commercial real estate redevelopment happening in the greater Chicagoland area during the 1980's and 1990's era. Most of Chicago's once numerous outdoor seasonal family owned amusement parks, were long gone with their former sites being redevelped in to outdoor retail strip malls during the late 1970's and early 1980's. The Kiddieland Amusement Park itself was rumored to be on borrowed time as early as 1991.

Kiddieland was the very last amusement park of it's type still operating in the greater Chicagoland area, and closed for good on Sunday, September 27th, 2009 after a legal dispute between the family members who owned the amusement park and rides, and the members who owned the land resulted in Kiddieland being denied a lease for 2010.

Kiddieland's rides were auctioned, and the park itself demolished during the summer of 2010. Today this is the site of a Costco wholesale warehouse club store at the northwest corner of North and First Avenues in Melrose Park Illinois.

Kiddieland will be greatly missed.

Thanks.
Eddie K.