Shoot-the-Chutes was a massively popular ride with park-goers in the early 20th Century. No park was complete without one.
Shoot-the-Chutes had been invented in back 1894 by a long distance swimmer turned amusement park impresario named Paul Boynton. In 1895, it became the centerpiece of his Coney Island amusement park. In 1903, when the famous and influential Luna Park was built on the same grounds, the proprietors tore down everything else but retained Shoot-the-Chutes as the heart of their new park.
Shoot-the-Chutes rides were also at the center of the scores of imitators that opened across the nation in the wake of Luna Park's success.
Indianola added its Shoot-the-Chutes attraction as part of its improvements for the 1909 season. |