Louis Bopp

The story of Louis Bopp

Louis Bopp arrived in Jamaica on November 26, 1890, on the s.s. Aguan from New York. He had come in order to operate a carousel or merry-go-round at the Jamaica International Exhibition due to open on January 27, 1891. According to the Daily Gleaner Mr Bopp’s carousel ‘is of a new patent having seating capacity for 52 persons - it has 38 horses and two chariots. Some of the horses by a mechanical arrangement are made to jump. The Carousal and the organ attached will be run by steam power. There is also a dynamo attached to the machine so that the Carousal will be lit by electricity.’ He had also brought photographic equipment as an added project.

His wife, Kate, and son, Louis jnr, arrived on January 1, 1891.

Louis Bopp’s merry-go-round was located on the northern edge of the Exhibition grounds which took up the area now covered by the Wolmer’s schools and much of the Mico sports field as well. It was apparently a popular attraction for visitors to the Exhibition; on Easter Monday, March 30, 1891, over 3000 people rode the carousel, making that the best day’s business to that point. The possibility was raised of keeping the merry-go-round, skating rink and other amusements operating after the end of the Exhibition on May 2, 1891, but the substantial losses incurred in running the Exhibition made such further risks unacceptable.

Louis Bopp, however, intended to carry on his business through the rest of 1891. He applied to the Kingston City Council to lease land on the Racecourse to run an amusement park, but the Council’s demand for ‘a rent of £30 per month, payable weekly and in advance’ was too steep. Although the Council later changed its mind, Bopp either bought or leased Alton Ville on Orange Street, which came on the market in June, and began to set up his ‘entertainment grounds’ there.

The ‘Alton Ville Pleasure Park, Pleasure Grounds’ had its grand opening on August 1, 1891, the 53rd anniversary of ‘Full Freedom’ at the end of Apprenticeship in 1838. August 1 had always been an occasion for

popular entertainments, and Bopp’s ‘Pleasure Grounds’ were ideally suited to the tradition. He offered ‘Skating, Steam Merry-go-Round, with its grand Organs, Roman Swings, Comic Lime Light Views [magic lantern shows] Aunt Sally, Cane Stand, Natural Fishing, Camera Obscura, Shooting Gallery’; a ‘Strength Tester’ and ‘Swinging Weights’ were attractions added later. Skating started at 3 pm and dancing at 7 pm, with the Kingston Volunteers’ Band providing the music, and Senor Rondon had a pavilion ‘where his usual fine quality iced cream was served’. Everything was brightly lit by ‘several electric arc lamps’ and ‘hundreds of Chinese Lanterns’.

Admission was 6d [six pence] for adults, and children were admitted free when they were accompanied by parents or guardians. Advertisements stressed that ‘good behaviour and respectable appearance’ were insisted upon. The Street Car Company helpfully made arrangements to convey passengers to the grounds for one fare each way.

Kingstonians were able to enjoy the delights of the gardens through August and September, after which it was announced that Bopp would tour the island. It must have been very difficult to move the equipment over the island’s inadequate roads (later there is reference to carousels travelling by sea around the island), and in the event he seems to have gone no further than Spanish Town. The engagement there was announced for one week, but even if Bopp travelled further, he was back in Kingston by November 21. The gardens were in full operation over the Christmas Holidays, and were open free on Christmas Day, but, according to an advertisement in the Gleaner on December 14, Bopp sold off much of his equipment by auction at Alton Ville. There was, however, no mention of the carousel among the articles for sale.

The Bopps after Jamaica

The Bopps left Jamaica at the end of December 1891; advertisement of Alton Ville Park continued until the middle of January 1892, but after that there are no further items relating to it. It is not clear whether the steam carousel returned to New York, or was sold and remained in Jamaica.

When the Bopp family left Kingston in the steamer Hondo on December 30, 1891, Louis snr was 25 years old and described as a carver (obviously of wooden carousels); his wife, Kate, was 23 and their son, Louis jnr, was 5. It is not so far clear where Louis Bopp and his family were in the rest of the 1890s, though probably they were in New York.

It is known that Louis Bopp trained as an apprentice at the Looff carving shop at Coney Island in New York, and at some time in the early years of the 20th century settled in Revere Beach, Massachusetts. There he earned the soubriquet the “King of the Carousel”. He and his son, Louis jnr, operated at least four machines - the Hippodrome, a Looff carousel; the Teddy Bear; the Stein and Goldstein Rough Riders; and a carousel at Wonderland Park, a large amusement park which operated from1906 to 1911. They continued their successful partnership until 1919, when Louis jnr died in the great Spanish ‘Flu epidemic at the early age of 33. Although Louis struggled on, to support his daughter-in-law and Louis jnr’s three children, he was a broken man after his son’s death; he died in Florida in March 1923.

Louis Bopp’s carousels lived on, well into the second half of the 20th century. The Hippodrome carousel with its 70 horses, five abreast, 2 gondolas, 2 seesaws and two rockers, was purchased in the 1960s by the Hurleys, earlier the main competitors of the Bopps at Revere Beach. Then it was sold to Circus World, stored for a decade and finally broken up at auction. But the “King of the Carousels” is still alive to the many carousel enthusiasts and researchers.