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There are suspicions there was something there at one time other than just a 'park' and 'zoo'. The City -- Home of P.T. Barnum.... There are some obsure references to a Hippodrome Park and such associated with P.T. Barnum of Bridgeport. There is also Seaside Park in Bridgeport which Mr. Barnum used for his 'animals and shows' as his 'home base' was Bridgeport,Ct.....

Trivia --- A Carousel at Agassi Village in Maine came from the Barnum and Bailey Circus in 1936.

The camp's (Agassi Village) most unique feature was the huge merry-go-round with its Wurlitzer band organ that was purchased from the Barnum and Bailey Circus in 1936 for the children at Agassiz Village.

As of 2007 they have an operating Carousel at Beardsley Park which one source says came from a shopping mall in Springfield,Ma.---and it is now 50 years old.... Otherwise it is known they are re-building the old Pleasure Beach Carousel. I was told the present operating Carousel is using the old Pleasure Beach horses on 'the first row now'.....

Star on Refurbished

Pleasure Beach Carousel

By Sandra Jarrett and Denise Caraballo

Your parents or grandparents might recall a wonderful, fun filled day at Bridgeport's Pleasure Beach Amusement Park with their families eating cotton candy and enjoying the rides which brought them such pleasure and happiness. Pleasure Beach was the Busch Gardens or Great Adventure of its day.

Central librarian Mrs. Adrienne Silverstein remembers when she was a small child and she and her family ran through Pleasure Beach. She remembers the carousel most of all. "I never would ride a stationary horse. It had to be a horse that went up and down," she explained.

When Pleasure Beach became inactive, some years after Silverstein's childhood, people started stealing and destroying the horses from the carousel.

Spurred by her childhood memories, Silverstein led Central's participation in an adopt-a-horse project which funded the restoration of the carousel and its recent relocation to Beardsley Park. Central Star is the name of our school's horse.

Silverstein attended a reception on October 17 celebrating the reopening of the carousel. "I think it's a fantastic way to preserve the history of Bridgeport," she said.