Freedomland USA: was this 1960s theme park just a five-year land scam?
Freedomland USA was a theme park in the Bronx that operated from 1960 to 1964. It faced financial difficulties and ultimately filed for bankruptcy after just four years. Some speculate that it was a scheme to expedite the construction of Co-Op City, a large housing development.
- ▪Freedomland USA was themed to American history and designed by C.V. Wood, Disneyland's first employee.
- ▪The park struggled with low attendance and financial issues, leading to its closure in 1964.
- ▪After Freedomland's closure, the site was developed into Co-Op City, the world's largest housing cooperative.
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| Original publisher | Boing Boing |
| Canonical URL | https://boingboing.net/2026/05/29/freedomland-usa-was-this-1960s-theme-park-just-a-five-year-land-scam.html |
| Publication time | Fri, 29 May 2026 17:19:13 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-29T17:55:02.441Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-29T17:55:02.441Z |
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| Summary source text | contentText |
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| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
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| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
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| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
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Freedomland USA: was this 1960s theme park just a five-year land scam? Ruben Bolling 10:19 am Fri May 29, 2026 It's a rule of thumb that when an internet article's headline is a question, the answer to the question will be No. But in this case, I think it's a Um, Maybe? Probably? I learned about the strange story of Freedomland USA from Frank Santopadre's superb podcast Fun for All Ages. In an episode about defunct amusement parks, Frank's guests, theme park experts and designers Dave Cobb and Robert Coker describe the Bronx, NY park themed to American history that only lasted from 1960 to 1964. The park was conceived and built by C.V. Wood, who was Disneyland's first employee in 1954, and was instrumental in getting Disneyland built and opened on time in 1955.
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