kenosia.html

Now here's an obscure, really long-vanished one: Kenosia Park in Danbury. This was on Lake Kenosia, not where Danbury-Kenosia Park currently is, but on the other side of the lake where Lake Place condos are. It was operated by the Danbury & Bethel Street Railway Co. It was destroyed by fire in Sept. 1926 and the Street Railway --- which was dying anyway --- went out of business in two months. My parents remembered going there as kids.

Yet, in spite of its exceptional proximity to everything you could want, Lake Place remains the secluded lakeside resort that it has been for more than 100 years. The ornate, Victorian Kenmere Hotel once reigned over the shores of Lake Kenosia on this exact spot. Now only a nostalgic memory, Kenosia Park had an old fashioned merry-go-round, a horse racing track, gazebos, a wooden roller coaster, boats for hire and the famed, 30 passenger steamer Montgomery, which cruised the lake. The hotel burned in 1926 and the steamer eventually sank to the bottom of the lake where it's hull reportedly still rests....

Lake Kenosia Amusement Park opened in 1895 and became known as Danbury's 'Coney Island'. Typical of the old trolley parks,Lake Kenosia was owned by the Danbury and Bethel Street Railroad Company,and the 5 cent trolley ride was considered part of the fun.

It was reported in 1912 that a daily average of 700 people made the 20 minute trip from Danbury Center to Lake Kenosia.

Leo Lesieur of Worcester,Massachusetts, ran the park for all but the last few years of its existence. Lesieur originally offered an old fashioned merry-go-round as his stake in the venture and the trolley company allowed him to lease and build the 12 1/2 acre park. According to a story by Robina C.Clark in the Danbury News-Times of August 30,1967, the merry-go-round was driven by a gasoline engine, housed in a little enclosure with a peaked striped canvas cover just outside the carousel. The belt that turned it ran under the revolving platform and a rough ride was had by all.

Lake Kenosia was truly a reflection of the 'Gay Nineties' where pleasure seekers rode the trolley cars on summer afternoons or evenings to swim, boat or just enjoy the coolong lake breezes, take in a theater performance and taste the new and delectable concoction,the ice cream soda.

On the morning of June 12,1926, a fire ravaged Kenosia Lake Amusement Park, ending a wonderful era in Danbury history.