All about Lilliputia
Midget Firemen
Caspar Weis & Queen Mab
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All about Coney Island, Dreamland, and Lilliputia
Coney Island is a neighborhood in southern-most Brooklyn, New York, New York. At one point it was an island, but is now actually a peninsula. According to Wikipedia, "[t]he eponymous neighborhood is a community of 60,000 people in the western part of the peninsula, with Seagate to its west; Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach to its east; and Gravesend to the north." The area was a major resort and home of Astroland amusement park (among others) that reached its peak in the early 20th century. It declined in popularity after World War II and endured years of neglect. The neighborhood is about to undergo great change again, if Thor Equities, a private developer, has its way. Plans were floated during 2005-2007 to demolish all remaining buildings in the area, replacing them with a $1.5 billion seaside resort made up of condominiums, retail space and restaurants, and a new and improved amusement park. From the years 1904-1911, Coney Island was home to Dreamland, an amusement park, which at one point had 14,000 employees and could acommodate 250,000 visitors, at any one time. According to Jeffrey Stanton, in his 1998 article on Coney Island and Dreamland: Dreamland did have a number of original attractions. Probably the most unique was "Lilliputia" better known as "The Midget City" located along the west promenade. Three hundred midgets, who had been scattered across the continent as attractions at various World's Fairs, upon manager Samuel W. Gumpertz request, came to Dreamland to live in an experimental community. Their city, in a area 80 x 175 feet, was built at half scale as a replica 15th century Nuremburg, Germany. Everything was built in proportional scale of the inhabitants, from the theater to the beach lifeguard towers and toilets in their homes. The midgets had their own parliament, their own Midget City Fire Department that responded hourly to a false alarm, and their own beach complete with midget lifeguards. There was also a "Midget Theater", circus arena, miniature livery stable with diminutive horses, bantam chickens, and midget Chinese laundrymen. To accentuate the little people's size, a giant or two sometimes walked the area. During the park's off hours, the little people lead a typical mundane family life. |