For over half a century this carousel was a traveling carnival ride throughout the United States. It was used each Christmas Season from 1922 to 1980 by Wanamaker's Depratment Store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as part of their holiday display. It was sometimes in the main floor rotunda, but mostely it was on one of the upper floors in the toy department.
The aluminum horses, now on the carousel, were made from molds of wooden horses carved by the famous Russian carver, M. C. Illions. The mechanism was built by the renowned Mengels Carousel Works in Coney Island, New York.
The carousel was purchased by Michael Bonfante in 1988 from the noted collector, John Daniels of Pasadena, California. It has since been restored to its present beautiful condition by Waldon Hague and Linda Buchannan.
It was not until after I read the history of the carousel that I realized that I had ridden the carousel as a child in John Wanamaker's store in Philadelphia. It must have been about 1933. At that time it had a dark brown wood floor and the horses were made of carved wood. The top of the carousel had Holiday garlands and the lights were multicolored in keeping with the season. I had seen the carousel in later years, but did not ride it as there was an age limit. The last time I saw it in Philadelphia was about 1948. Perhaps I also rode the carousel in the '30s at the Lehigh County Fair, in Allentown, Pa. or the Carbon County Fair in Lehighton, Pa.
As a Garden Guide/Docent at Bonfante Park in the 2001 and 2002 operating season, I gave rides to people of all ages. Only children less than 48 inches tall were allowed to ride on the horses. Others were allowed to ride sitting in the Chariots. In 2002 my youngest rider was 3 weeks old, being held by her mother, and the oldest was aged 96 who got off a wheelchair on Mother's Day to take a ride in one of the Chariots.
In 2001 a mother brought her young daughter to the park to ride the carousel on her birthday. The girl had told her mother that she would like a birthday present of riding Claudia's carousel. Her mother said she could ride the carousel as long as she wanted. Many times the girl would change horses after the ride but stayed on to ride again. After several hours, the mother changed her mind and insisted that her daughter get off the carousel. I gave the girl 42 rides before she got off the carousel.