Dentzel carousel

Children love to ride the museum’s Dentzel Carousel, but there was a time before it came to The Children’s Museum when not every child was allowed to ride. Sometimes, the stories of objects change from one generation to another, and the museum captures and acknowledges these stories.

 

This Carousel was originally installed in White City amusement park (later Broad Ripple Park) in 1917, with turn-of-the-20th-century carousel animals made by the Dentzel Company of Philadelphia. The mechanism was destroyed in 1956 when the domed pavilion that housed the Carousel collapsed. Many families enjoyed riding the Carousel while it was there—but only if they were White. For many years, Jim Crow segregation signs prohibited Black families from also experiencing the same enjoyment.

 

Out of the 42 original carousel animals, 41 eventually found their way to The Children’s Museum. A different mechanism and a 1919 Wurlitzer carousel organ were acquired to reconstruct the Carousel inside the museum. It began operation for the enjoyment of all children when the current facility opened in 1976 and it was named a National Historic Landmark in 1987.

 

There are local families today whose members recall the exclusion of the past, even while they come to enjoy the Carousel with their current families at the museum. Ernestine Cheatham remembers a time when the Carousel was located in the park, but only White families were allowed to ride it.

 

“It was common knowledge that you don’t go,” she says. “I was very sad about it. I felt everyone should go. Certain things you put out of your mind because it’s hard to think about what you can’t do.”

 

Ernestine also shared her thoughts on now being able to ride the carousel with her family at The Children’s Museum.

 

“I’m just happy that four generations—those under me—could come here and enjoy it so much.”

 

To hear from more generations of the Cheatham family, click here: