Once an Amusement Park, Now a Car Dealership

This little park was just that.....little.

It wasn’t a park in the literal sense but appeared more like those quickie carnivals that used to set up for a week in K-Mart parking lots. Except this one was permanent and was a favorite place for many.

It was Wonderland Park, in Ecorse Township, now known as Southgate in Wayne County. It sat in the triangle at the junction of Fort Street, Trenton Road, and Pennsylvania Road.

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It’s believed to have opened sometime in the 1950s and closed around 1966. The official address was 16800 Fort Street and is now the home of Southgate Lincoln.

This little haven that sat among outer-Detroit’s concrete and steel had a Ferris wheel, tilt-a-whirl, a kiddie car ride, midway games, mini-golf, trampolines, merry-go-round, bumper cars, atomic jet ride, and a few other rides.

Driving that area now, you can probably imagine what it was like to pull in and enjoy this little oasis that was in the middle of heavy commuter traffic, exhaust, and people who were in too big of a hurry to get nowhere.