The Forest Park Carousel is over a century old, but it has only been here in Woodhaven for just over 40 years after many years at Lakeview Park in Dracut, Massachusetts. The original carousel in Forest Park was destroyed in a fire in the late 1960s.  This Muller Carousel - referring to Daniel Muller, the artist who carved many of the animals on the ride - was granted NYC Landmark status just two years ago.

Although the carousel had been here just over 40 years, all of the parts, all of the machinery that makes the ride go, was thought to be much older than 40 years. It was certainly starting to act old and the ride operators - New York Carousel, a division of Ride Entertainment - knew it was time for some major repairs. Specifically, the gears and the bearings at the center of the ride needed to be rebuilt and/or replaced - and there was only one way to do this: take the entire ride apart, piece by piece.

Not only was this going to be a time consuming process - it was going to be quite expensive, a cost they were very willing to bear as long as it meant the long-term health of the carousel was ensured. We are very fortunate to have this group in charge of our carousel - they put the health of the ride before profits - and that says a lot.

They began taking the ride apart in November, just days after the last ride of the 2014 season. We'd like to thank the operators of the Forest Park Carousel for giving the Woodhaven Cultural & Historical Society the opportunity to document this process. We visited the work site nearly every day - and the pictures on this page were taken over the course of the two and a half weeks it took to take it apart.

The company brought in to guide the work was called Carousels & Carvings, out of Marion, Ohio, led by Mr. Todd Goings. The plan was to get the machinery and parts that needed to be replaced and drive them back to their shop (555 miles away). Mr. Goings is acknowledged as an expert in the field and we were fortunate to have him guiding this process.

And now, see the Forest Park Carousel as you've never seen it before. All photos taken by Josephine Asaro Wendell of the Woodhaven Cultural & Historical Society.

It was slow work as they were extremely careful taking off each animal. They spent most of the first day building wooden racks that each animal would be placed into, secured, and then tied down to make sure that they would be safe and sound over the winter.

At first, they hoped that they would be able to leave the animals on the outer row in place, so they began by taking all of the animals on the inner two rows off. Spoiler alert - they ended up having to take them all off.  These guys were taking no shortcuts - cutting no corners - this was going to be done right so that the carousel would be in good shape for the next 100 years.

One by one, the horses were added to the rack and secured. Looking at these pictures, it might look like a fast process - but there was nothing easy or speedy about this project.

Over the course of a few days, the horses began to line up - looks like they are at the starting gate, awaiting the start of a race!  There are over 50 animals on the ride - some stationary, some jumping - and they all had to be taken off the ride before they could get at the the main bearing that needed to be replaced.

Each animal was tagged so they could be returned to their original position.

The process of taking the horses off - especially the jumping horses - was interesting. Here, Daeshawn Grimes, Operations Manager for the Forest Park Carousel, dismantles the attachment to the cranking rod (which, as the ride goes around, causes the horses to go up and down). The pin had to be removed, sometimes with a little gentle force.

The Carousel's Director of Operations, David Galst (at left) helps carry out one of the horses.

Here, the horse is carried to its spot in the rack where it will spend the winter.

It was very exciting going back each day to see the progress being made - to see more and more horses sitting in the rack.

The decorative facing needed to be removed as well.  

Here we are about 7 to 10 days into the project - you can see they are making great progress. 

There were just a few more on the outside to go!

This guy is everyone's favorite -- the tiger!  

A few more shots of the horses -- it was a little strange seeing them all in a row like this.

The outer row is all that remains of the animals - but they will need to take off the outside artwork, all of the sweeps (the blue and pink beams) -- everything. Our Forest Park Carousel is getting completely stripped down.

The crew takes a break - they put in many long, hard hours and they were so very careful with every piece they took off.

A day or so later, we returned to see that it was almost nearly apart.  The chariot benches were allowed to stay - but every other animal was removed and stored away for the winter.

The carousel platform needed to be raised by a crane which they brought inside the building - and once raised, they supported it on cinder blocks. They needed to raise the platform so they could reach the main bearing right in the center of the ride.

Now they needed to start taking the sweeps off. 

As each piece came off there was a noticeable echo in the room.  

The coverings were placed aside. Over the winter, many parts would travel to Ohio for repair or to have complete new parts built - but the covering would remain here where they would be cleaned up, sanded, and repainted.

Some of the gears that needed to be removed and replaced. I reached down to feel one of these - and it was heavy.

The long arms of the carousel - how many rides did these arms take? How many children did they carry?

These pieces were taken down one section at a time - again, it was very slow, patient work.

These were all removed and brought outside. These were all marked for replacement.

This picture is interesting because they are finally getting the center pole to be nearly cleared - which means they are getting close to the main bearing in the center.

And here are the pieces in the center -- all that work for the previous two and a half weeks were to get at these pieces.

The Forest Park Carousel was now completely stripped down -- 

The center pole is at right (the red pole). The room is bare - it's quiet, like a cathedral.

The Carousel is now ready for the long wait over winter.

The crew was extremely happy and satisfied with their work.

Below, Mr. Todd Goings of Carousels and Carvings surveys the work -- and gets ready for the long trek back to Ohio where the work to rebuild the machinery will take place.

Stay tuned for Part 2 -- Putting It Back Together!

For over half a century, 

If you have any comments, or would like to suggest other projects, drop us a line at info@projectwoodhaven.com or projectwoodhaven@aol.com.  

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Photos by Joey Wendell