Apr
12

Today in Smithsonian History: April 12, 1967

Secretary S. Dillon Ripley rides the carousel in front of the Arts and Industries Building.

Secretary S. Dillon Ripley rides the carousel in front of the Arts and Industries Building.

April 12, 1967 The Carousel on the National Mall opens. A project of Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley’s, it is operated by the Smithsonian Museum Service. The New York Times reported that word of a carousel to be permanently installed on the National Mall in Washington, DC, “disturbs some people.” Wary of ideas that the newly appointed Smithsonian Secretary had proposed—outdoor puppet and musical performances, sound and light shows, popcorn wagons—some in Washington feared that the Smithsonian Institution would become an “ivy-covered Disneyland.”

Learn more about the carousel from Smithsonian Institution Archives >>

 

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Posted: 12 April 2019
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