Moonshot Memories: The Tale of Riverside Park’s Rocket

The late 1990s almost brought an end to a Wichita icon, the Riverside Rocket.  The city deemed the playground equipment dangerous.  A movement began to save the rocket, a compromise was made, and the structure still stands today.

The rocket was part of a cold war movement to create excitement about the Space Race.  

A three-story rocket ship premiered in a California park around 1959.

An issue of Life Magazine in March 1963 described the movement as a “space-age shift” in playground design offering “colorful new gadgets anchored safely to the ground but set children’s imaginations to flight.

There were two companies credited with building the space-themed equipment: Miracle Equipment Company of Grinnell, Iowa, and Jamison Fantasy Equipment of Los Angeles, California.

I found a photo from a Jamison Catalog advertising Riverside’s rocket, known as a “Moon Rocket.” a different ad for Miracle showed the “Space Explorer” which can still be found at Southview Park.

I mention the movement’s background in the 60s because the Eagle and several people reference it as being around in the 50s.  I can’t find any mention of it that early.  My contact at Wichita City Parks didn’t have an exact date but put it in the mid-1960s. 

The first mention in the Eagle was a letter to the editor on March 9, 1967: 

After visiting Riverside Park, our two younger children wanted me to write an expression of gratitude for the thoughtfulness of those who constructed the new play equipment… Here’s the message. Tell the park men how much we liked the equipment. We liked the rocket to the moon, the big wide slide, and the crawl through the castle the best.

Janelle and Mark O’Rourke Wichita

An article in the Wichita Eagle in August of 1972, mentioned it was used as a refuge site for two boys who ran away from home. “The boys were reported missing Friday and were located Monday on their way to the moon… They had crawled up in the top of the rocket, they said they went there to hide.”

For the next nearly 30 years, the Moon Rocket of Riverside inspired children to climb and dream of the stars.  As a kid, I loved crawling up to the top and “steering the ship” with that giant squeaky round steering wheel.  Seriously though, how do you steer a ship that goes up and down and side to side with a steering wheel? 

In 1999, the city decided to spend 1 million dollars to update and build new equipment across many of its parks. Renovations were made at Aley, Sunset, Brownthrush, Lincoln, Henry, Hope, Prospect, Lynette Woodard, and Longview Parks.  

In August of 1999, the Eagle described the rocket as “stands about three stories tall, its red legs grounded in a sandy launchpad as its yellow nose reaches to the sky fashioned like a lunar cage. The rocket offers a steep climb for kids, but is impossible for adults because the entrances are only about 18 inches wide…  Kids fill the rocket through the day but graffiti on the inside of the nose tells the story of high school make-out sessions and vandals from years past.”

The acting City Park Superintendent, Brett Russell said, “The city has nothing against the rocket as a piece of history, it’s just too dangerous to keep around… it sways back-and-forth in the wind when too many kids pack the top level. Kids can become caught in between the bars and if something happens inside the rocket, there’s no way for an adult to get inside to help at the park.”  

In 2002, the city sealed the hatch leading to the top deck and the weird steering wheel. 

A July article in the Eagle mentioned that it had been sealed, “although an astronomical number of people have played on it over the years no serious injuries have been blamed on it.”

In May 2003, the city announced it would transform the Riverside rocket into an art piece.

The Park and Recreation Director told the Eagle, “It’s a neat feature that’s been around since 1952 or thereabouts and I understand some of the long-term residents of Wichita not wanting to see it go.”  (I know what he said, but read what I wrote at the beginning of this story)

Kathy Dittmer, president of the Riverside Citizens Association said an “ever-growing number of people are willing to accept the compromise.  At least we can have it remain an art piece as a recognition to grandmas and parents as a reminiscence.”

By 2006, the rocket slide’s entrance was welded shut. It was given a fresh coat of paint and surrounded by benches and landscaping. 

To learn more stories about Wichita’s Riverside Park, check out Mini-Series: Riverside Park