It may have existed in the shadows of the Steel Pier, and it was smaller than the Million Dollar Pier, but during its 86-year existence, roughly from 1900 to 1986, Atlantic City’s Steeplechase Pier was one heck of an amusement pier.
Located on the Boardwalk, between S. North Carolina and Pennsylvania avenues, and adjacent to the Steel Pier, Steeplechase Pier wasn’t always called Steeplechase Pier. It was built sometime between 1899 and 1902 by an outfit called the Auditorium Pier Company, hence its original name: Auditorium Pier.
When famed Coney Island showman George C. Tilyou bought the pier in 1908, he renamed it Steeplechase Pier and began remodeling it in a fashion similar to the amusement park he owned on Coney Island.
Tilyou began using the tagline, “The Funny Place,” in 1914. Early features of Steeplechase included a unique entrance where visitors walked in through the mouth of a clown into a revolving barrel. There was another entrance that must have been built for voyeurs, whereby female customers were subject to skirt-lifting blasts of air from below. Rides at the time included The Whip and something called The Whirlpool, modeled after Coney Island’s Human Whirlpool ride.
The Whirlpool attraction may have helped forge Steeplechase’s reputation as the pier for thrill rides. While it was certainly thrilling, it was also quite dangerous, which is why the ride didn’t last long. Riders sat on a large, spinning plate that would tilt and toss them onto a hardwood floor. Can you imagine?
Thanks to its Boardwalk location next to the Steel Pier, and the enormous electric Chesterfield Cigarettes sign that towered atop the pier from 1926 to 1932, Steeplechase enjoyed great success. But History has shown that nothing is permanent, structure-wise, when it comes to amusement piers jutting out over the sea. On Valentine’s Day of 1932, Steeplechase Pier, then 1,000 feet in length, was destroyed by fire.
It was not only entirely rebuilt, but it was extended to 1,500 feet. Not long after it reopened, it was rechristened Calvert Pier, sometimes known as the Calvert Free Pier. Photographs from the time show large Calvert Liquor billboards positioned atop the pier, so in all probability the Calvert Distillery, a holding company founded in 1934 which later merged into Seagram’s, was likely one of the owners.
Tragedy struck again when the Great Atlantic Hurricane of September, 1944 devastated much of the East Coast, including Atlantic City. A 2019 article published by the New Jersey State Library detailed the severity of the destruction.
“The Atlantic City area sustained millions of dollars’ worth of damage with all utilities and transportation disrupted,” according to the article. “In some places, whole sections of the Boardwalk, with rails and benches still intact, were blown four blocks inland. Among the structures destroyed by the hurricane was Steeplechase Pier.”
It was again rebuilt, and by the mid-1940s, took on the name of Steeplechase Pier once more.
But disaster struck again in 1962. On March 6 and 7, a winter nor’easter hit the entire East Coast. In Atlantic City, winds were clocked at 50 miles per hour, and tides were 9 feet high. It was reported at the time that more than half of Absecon Island was completely underwater, with the bay meeting the ocean. Damage to homes and businesses was estimated at $10 million.
A drifting barge slammed into the Steel Pier, causing $2 million in damage, and taking out the pier’s 150-foot center section. The Water Circus part of the pier was also washed away. Owner George Hamid oversaw repairs and managed to reopen at least some of the smaller Steel Pier in time for Easter weekend, April 20-22.
Steeplechase Pier was not so lucky. Half the pier was gone, leaving it at about 750 feet in length. But it was never say die for this resilient venue. New rides and attractions were regularly added, including a sky ride in 1964, a roller coaster and something called The Calypso in 1967.
Steeplechase, during the 1960s, was the pier that I knew. Despite the downturn in Atlantic City’s fortunes, it was still mobbed, still exciting and evidently still successful.
I recall The Calypso vividly, as it became semi-legendary in my family because my brother and his friends supposedly got sick after riding it. Amusement ride fans may recall that The Calypso seated up to 50 riders who spun around in a pod which spun with four other pods. What fun!
Steeplechase hung on for a remarkably long time, adding new attractions and showing overall dedication to keeping up with the times. But by 1986, it was condemned by the city’s building department which declared it unsafe.
Two years later it was destroyed by fire, and in 1996, what remained was torn down, which allowed for the expansion of the Steel Pier.
The always-bustling Margaritaville stands on the site of the old pier. And though the entertainment, the shops and the food at Margaritaville are just wonderful, it isn’t the same. It’s not Steeplechase Pier.
