Few People Know Pennsylvania Was Home To The First Roller Coaster In America

Adrenaline junkies have it pretty good in Pennsylvania. If your favorite way to get your adrenaline flowing is roller coasters, you certainly live in the right place. Pennsylvania’s home to countless roller coasters, including Leap-the-Dips (the oldest in America) and the Jack Rabbit (it opened in 1920), so that makes it fitting that the first roller coaster was in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania.

The birth of the roller coaster in America started in Mauch Chunk, now known as Jim Thorpe, the home to the second railroad in the United States. At the time, in the early to mid-1800s, the railroad tracks spanned around nine miles.

Known as the Switchback Gravity Railroad, the railroad was used to transport coal from nearby Summit Hill to Mauch Chunk. Gravity was used to haul the coal down the hill while mules pulled the empty railway cars back up.

Eventually, steam-powered cars replaced the mules, and a figure eight track – a switchback – was used. That way the coal-filled cars could travel on one track, and the empty ones would follow the so-called back track.

The empty cars, powered by steam, would go up several steep hills and come down again, sometimes going as fast as 50 miles per hour.

When the track wasn’t in use hauling coal, it became a popular tourist attraction, with thrill seekers riding on what some called a trolley.

Some consider this the first roller coaster in America. However, others credit the Mauch Chunk railway with the technology that created what they believe to be the country’s first roller coaster – the Switchback Railway at Coney Island. It opened in June 1884.

The above is a photo of the Switchback Railway at Coney Island, often credited as the first roller coaster.

Today, the former railroad path has transformed into a scenic rail trail. Learn more about the Switchback Railroad Trail on the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources website.

Did you know that Pennsylvania was home to the first roller coaster in America? What’s your favorite roller coaster in Pennsylvania today? Let us know in the comments! Pennsylvania has a rich roller-coaster history. It’s also home to Leap-the-Dips, the oldest wooden roller coaster in America.