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A picnic hosted by the Nanticoke branch of the Luzerne County Unemployed League at Croop’s Glen in Hunlock Township ended with disaster when a pavilion collapsed, injuring 147 people, mostly women and children, on June 29, 1935.

“Many of the picnickers were reported to have had narrow escapes from death or serious injury when the pavilion, which crosses Hunlock Creek, crashed into the water 15 feet below. The injured were rushed to Nanticoke State Hospital in ambulances, private cars and trucks as physicians between Shickshinny and Plymouth were summoned for emergency service,” the Wilkes-Barre Record reported July 1, 1935.

“For more than one hour after the pavilion collapsed, a dozen ambulances, summoned from Nanticoke, Plymouth, Shickshinny and Wilkes-Barre were engaged in rushing the injured to Nanticoke State Hospital, which was overcome by victims,” the Times Leader reported June 29, 1935.

As many has nine injured people were loaded into each ambulance.

Ambulances from the Glen Alden Coal Company were also used to transport the injured.

More than 3,000 people attended the picnic at Croop’s Glen.

“Rescued persons told an incoherent story of what happened, but from those best able to talk about the accident, it was learned that when the pavilion floor collapsed, a funnel like slide was created through which scores tumbled down into the creek,” reported the Times Leader.

The pavilion collapsed just as a pretty baby contest got underway and picnickers rushed inside for shelter from a rainstorm.

“Witnesses said the floor of the pavilion caved in the center, and dropped into the creek, carrying mothers, their children and spectators into the water,” the Record newspaper reported.

An investigation by the State Department of Labor and Industry determined the pavilion collapsed due to overcrowding.

Fortunately, no one was killed in the collapse.

“The pavilion was said to have been erected about 18 years ago, though repairs and alterations have since been made to it,” the Record reported July 1, 1935.

After the collapse, lawsuits were filed in Luzerne County Court citing negligence on the part of Croop’s Glen.

“First of a multiplicity of lawsuits growing out of the collapse of a pavilion at Croop’s Glen ended yesterday afternoon at 4 when a jury returned a verdict of $1,500 in damages for Mrs. Josephine Piershalski of South Market Street, Nanticoke,” the Record reported Oct. 21, 1939.

Piershalski was permanently injured in the collapse.

Most lawsuits were settled while several went before juries during the early 1940s.

Croop’s Glen opened as a recreational park between two mountain ridges at present day Route 11 and Main Road, also called Hunlock Creek Turnpike, in May 1917. Over the ensuring years, the park grew with rides to include two roller coasters, a carousel, the whip, swimming holes and pavilions where dances were held.

“The amusement hall containing a merry-go-round, shooting gallery and the many other sources of pleasure to the younger generation is the center of the grounds,” the Times Leader reported April 30, 1917.

Due to rising insurance costs and the outbreak of World War II causing low attendance and travel restrictions, most of the attractions at Croop’s Glen were shut down, but dances and picnics continued to be held at the site.

Croop’s Glen never reopened and nearly half the park’s landscape was taken by the State Highway Department in the 1960s to widen Route 11 and the Hunlock Creek Turnpike. Highway widening also claimed the 125-year Hunlock Creek Hotel that was located across from Croop’s Glen.

Croop’s Glen shown in a Facebook photo from History of Wyoming Valley’s West Side
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_Croops-glen.jpg.optimal.jpgCroop’s Glen shown in a Facebook photo from History of Wyoming Valley’s West Side

By Ed Lewis

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