QNS
For close to a century, the Forest Park Carousel has been part of the
rituals of growing up in Woodhaven, Glendale, Richmond Hill and many of
the other nearby neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn.
In many families, several generations have fond memories of
riding on the carousel as children before passing along the tradition by
taking their own children or grandchildren for their first ride. The
Forest Park Carousel is not only a fun ride, but also a beautiful and
historically significant piece of work.
Nearly all the figures were created by the hands of legendary Master
Carver Daniel C. Muller, a crucial factor in the New York City Landmarks
Preservation Commission’s decision to designate the Forest Park
Carousel a New York City Landmark in 2013.
To gain a better understanding of Muller, we need to start with
Gustav Dentzel who had learned the craft of carousel-building from his
father Michael in Germany and immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1864. Though
he initially took up trade as a cabinetmaker, in 1867, he began the
G.A. Dentzel Steam and Horsepower Carousel Builder company.
Dentzel’s firm completed an average of four full carousels a year, some of the earliest carousels in the United States.
One of Dentzel’s carvers was also a close friend, John Heinrich
Muller. When Mueller died suddenly, Dentzel raised his surviving two
teenage sons as his own. The brothers, Daniel and Alfred, joined the
Dentzel family business in 1890 and began carving carousel figures.
Although both brothers were talented carvers, it was Daniel C. Muller
(born in 1872) who truly shone, honing his craft at the Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts. D. C. Muller’s carvings were notable for being
very beautiful and realistic. He was also known for militaristic
carvings with horses sporting bugles, swords and canteens.
In 1903, the brothers left Dentzel and started their own company,
D.C. Muller Brothers Carousel Manufacturing Company, a much smaller shop
than Dentzel ran. The Mullers only managed to build 12 carousels over
14 years with much of the delays attributed to Muller’s attention to
detail.
The Mullers closed the shop in 1917 and rejoined their former
company, which had been run by William Dentzel since his father Gustav’s
passing in 1909. They remained with the Dentzels until William passed
away and the company folded in 1928 as the Golden Age of Carousels in
America came to a close.
And that brings us to the Forest Park Carousel. In the early days of
Forest Park, the golf course was much larger, covering all the land down
to what is known today as Park Lane South. All the land that the Forest
Park Carousel sits on today, plus all the area surrounding it, was
originally part of the golf course.
The residents of Woodhaven complained and in 1923 the Parks
Department reduced the size of the golf course and the land that was
freed up was set aside as public park space. It was at that time that
Forest Park began to more closely resemble the park we know today.
Plans for playgrounds, a concrete bandstand, tennis courts and a
carousel were announced. It’s hard to imagine, but residents of
Woodhaven were opposed to the placement of a carousel so close to
Woodhaven Boulevard, which was a sleepy one-lane road called Woodhaven
Avenue at the time.
Construction on a building to contain the carousel finished in
December 1922, in the woods, well off from Woodhaven Avenue. And by the
spring of 1923, a carousel was spinning in Forest Park. The original
carousel in Forest Park was a Muller creation and was owned and operated
by Fred J. L. Hassinger of Glendale.
For over half a century, residents of Woodhaven and surrounding
communities flocked to the Forest Park Carousel. Parents and
grandparents put their children on the carousel, then sat and enjoyed
the pipe organ music and the smell of hot dogs and popcorn.
