There is confusing information about the amusement parks and roller coasters of Jacksonville Beach. Much information seems to be recopied from a Wikipedia article. This article mentions "Little Coney Island", a park with a roller coaster that predated Ocean View Pavilion. A secondary source has yet to be found to corroborate this. The article goes on to state Ocean View Pavilion's roller coaster, never by name, was built around 1922, was 93 feet tall and later "deconstructed to a smaller coaster".
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| Another source of information has been photos on the Beaches Museum website. Two photos dated 1925 shows a roller coaster damaged by the 1925 Florida tropical storm. Photo 1 shows a curve that appears to be the same as in post 1925 photos of Ocean View Pavilion's roller coaster. Photo 2 shows the ticket booth with the name "Pippin Coaster". This conflicts with the 1929 Beach Coaster entry here. Perhaps suggesting the "deconstructed to a smaller coaster" mentioned in the Wikipedia article occurred and was initiated by the tropical storm. Although it's confusing why the Wikipedia states other reasons for this. Another concern is the 93 feet tall statistic. There are numerous photos showing the full roller coaster. Of the dated photos, none have been found prior to 1925. In the photos the highest point that is about 11 ribbon boards tall. With the common 6 foot spacing between ribbon boards, this would make the roller coaster's height closer to 60 feet. |