Flushing Meadows Carousel
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1964-1965 New York World's Fair Carousel
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Carousel in 2014
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 Location within New York City
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| Location | Flushing Queens, NY |
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| Coordinates | 40°44′35″N 73°50′57″W / 40.74306°N 73.84917°WCoordinates: 40°44′35″N 73°50′57″W / 40.74306°N 73.84917°W |
| Built | 1964–1965 |
| Architect | William Mangels, Marcus Illions |
| NRHP reference # | 16000038 |
| Added to NRHP | February 23, 2016 |
The Flushing Meadows Carousel is a carousel located in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in the New York City borough of Queens. It contains four rows of figures, including 64 jumping horses, 7 standing horses, 1 menagerie animal (a lion), and 2 chariots. It was created to serve patrons of the 1964 New York World's Fair by combining two earlier carousels, both of which were carved in Coney Island in the first decade of the twentieth century by renowned carver Marcus Illions. During the fair, it stood on a nearby site within the park, and it was moved to its present site in 1968, where it has remained in service ever since.
In 2016 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The two predecessor carousels were the Feltman’s Carousel (1903) and the Stubbman Carousel (1908), both of which were created for amusement operators in Coney Island. 47 horses and the frame are from the Stubbman Carousel, and 24 horses are from the Feltman’s Carousel.
While Coney Island has seen resurgence since 2000, it had been busy during the Great Depression and had over twenty carousels spinning at once. The Feltman's Carousel had a restaurant and beer garden that occupied the site where the Luna Park currently sits, approximately between Jones Walk and West 10th Street. The carousel was indoors but faced Surf Avenue. The “Flying Horses” catalogue issued in 1970 by Rol and Jo Summit noted that some of the horses on Feltman’s carousel were left over from an earlier Looff carousel that caught fire, probably around 1899 or 1900. Feltman's carousel is regarded by some as Marcus Illions' masterpiece.
The Stubbman Carousel was located at West 6th Street and Surf Avenue. It was part of the Stubbman’s Beer Garden, which sat adjacent to the Hotel Eleanor. The site is currently occupied by the New York Aquarium. The Stubbman machine had 64 horses and spun in Stubbman’s Beer Garden until 1953, when it was moved near Steeplechase Park and operated as an independent concession. The Summit article said that the Stubbman Carousel was, “commissioned by George and Henry Stubbman for their beer garden. The building housing the merry-go-round was prominently labeled, ‘Hotel Eleanor, Open All Year.’ The carousel itself was a proud addition to the Marcus-Illions stable. Its handsome Louis XIV chariots put the snake-headed, winged dragons of Feltman to shame. Some of the featured carvings were more lifelike and inventive than the Feltman horses, but the overall effect of the rim and central enclosure was less magical; the Stubbman never gained the widespread acclaim and popularity of its predecessor.”
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