Central Park Bowling Alley

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During the early 1900s at the peak of its popularity, Central Park’s offerings included a dance hall with a highly-waxed 75,000 square foot hardware dance floor. The hall’s twenty windows opened on three sides to a wide veranda with views of the pond. Its interior was decorated with floor-length plate glass mirrors. A 1600-seat open amphitheatre was also on the site and offered lots of nightly entertainment ranging from Vaudeville shows and summer stock to boxing matches. There was also a bandstand for concerts, a penny arcade, and merry-go-round, roller skating rink, bowling alley, a bear cage with two live bears, a horseshoe pit, swings, several picnic areas, a lawn tennis court, baseball and football fields, a track for bicycle races, and rowboats, sailboats, and canoes to rent and steamboat rides around the pond for ten cents.