Lily McConnell will present unique historical project at SRyou Student Exposition
Lily McConnell, a double major in cultural and historic preservation (CHP) and studio art with a concentration in painting, recently discussed the key details of her SRyou Student Exposition project that has taken her research to new heights – literally.
Q: Tell us about your SRyou Student Exposition project.
A: I am researching the Dragon Coaster in Rye, New York. I’m essentially writing a letter of recommendation to nominate it for the National Register of Historic Places, because the coaster is currently unrecognized. Playland Park – an amusement park in Rye where the ride is located – is recognized by the national register, but the coaster is not. The coaster is the main draw of the park, and it’s one of the oldest wooden roller coasters still functioning in the country. So I thought, ‘Since there are other roller coasters on the national register, why not this one?’
Q: What inspired you to undertake a project like this?
A: I wanted to do something that brought me back to New York, where I’m from, and I didn’t want to research something that everyone had already researched before – like Coney Island or the Empire State Building. I also grew up going to Playland Park, and it was a place that I was always super excited to go to. I wanted to really understand its history, and being able to share with others the significance of the coaster was important to me.
Q: What are the key stages or milestones of the development of your project?
A: Something that has been really helpful in the development of my project is the Rye Historical Society. They’ve been a huge help in finding old newspaper articles about the opening of the park and what people thought of the park at that time. Being able to figure out how the people felt about it was something that excited me when I started to discover its history. It’s the people in history rather than the objects that I really connect with – which is also one of my favorite things about the CHP program.
Q: Is there a specific person or story that you uncovered through your research that was interesting to you?
A: Absolutely. There were three engineers who designed the coaster. It was Tom and Frank Prior, who were father and son, and Frederick Church. Church and Tom Prior started together in Chicago designing racing derby carousels, which are similar to a carousel, but they’re much faster. When Tom Prior died, Church married his wife and essentially adopted his son, Frank Prior. So Church and Frank Prior started working together designing new roller coasters.
Q: Have you experienced any unexpected hurdles and how did you overcome them?
A: The biggest hurdle was trying to figure out who the engineers of the ride were. There’s a period in roller coaster history called the Golden Age, which is between the mid-1920s and mid-1930s – and Church and the Priors were considered big names in the roller coaster industry. While they were big names, there wasn’t a ton of research on them – especially online. Which is where the Rye Historical Society was really helpful, because they had access to scanned physical documents that aren’t available to the public. The research was a lot of work, but it has been so much fun and worth it to be able to share this history with others.
Historic aerial view of Playland Park. Photo provided by the Westchester County Historical Society.
Q: In what ways do you feel your project makes a meaningful contribution or impact to the field?
A: I feel like amusement parks are an overlooked part of culture, especially American culture. People think of these places as just somewhere one can go on vacation with their family, but they’re a big part of America and people don’t really think about them in that capacity. For example, think of places like Disney World and Coney Island – they’re examples of core cultural spots in the United States that people don’t think about having so much history. They speak to a time in history in which people were struggling but still looked for a place in which they could find refuge. There’s important history there that speaks to the people of its time.
Q: How has working on a project like this contributed to your personal and academic growth?
A: I’ve done a ton of research papers in my past, but never to this extent. Diving into this project and dedicating myself to researching the history so deeply is something that I have never done before, and it has been extremely helpful in both my personal and academic growth. When I go on to graduate school, knowing how to properly conduct research is an important skill that this project has taught me – I’ve become a better researcher.
Q: How has Salve Regina prepared you to conduct a large project like this and present it to the community?
A: Salve has a good way of making people feel comfortable, especially within the CHP program and in the Department of Art and Art History. I’m proud of those two departments for creating an environment where myself and other students are comfortable and excited to speak about the things we’re interested in.
Q: If you could offer one piece of advice to a student who’s on the fence about participating in SRyou Student Exposition, what advice would you give them?
A: If you have something that you’re interested in and you want to talk about, don’t be afraid to. If you’re excited about it, someone else is going to be excited about it, too. It’s important to speak passionately about the things you’re passionate about – and to help other people learn about the things that they might also be passionate about and just not know it yet.
The Dragon Coaster today. Photo provided by Westchester Magazine.
