Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Lost Chicago: Windy City History

Before King Kong became a movie legend, Chicago had its own giant.

His name was Bushman, and for more than twenty years, he was one of the most beloved figures in the city. Crowds packed Lincoln Park Zoo to see him. Schoolchildren sang songs about him. Sailors visited him before heading off to war. Chicagoans brought him green bananas on St. Patrick’s Day. And when he died on New Year’s Day in 1951, thousands came to say goodbye.

This episode of Lost Chicago tells the strange, funny, heartbreaking story of Bushman, the orphaned gorilla from Africa who became a Depression-era symbol, a wartime celebrity, and one of the most mourned animals in Chicago history.

But Bushman’s story is also complicated. He was adored, but caged. Celebrated, but alone. And decades after his death, Chicago still refused to let him disappear.

For decades, Riverview Park was Chicago’s playground — a sprawling world of roller coasters, carnival barkers, freak shows, parachute drops, funhouses, and summer nights filled with lights and noise along the Chicago River.

But behind the laughter was another story.

In this episode of Lost Chicago, we go back inside the vanished amusement park that once drew millions to the North Side. Riverview was thrilling, chaotic, and unforgettable — but it was also home to dangerous rides, troubling attractions, racial stereotypes, accidents, crime, and a side of entertainment that feels very different today.

From the legendary Bobs roller coaster to the famous Pair-O-Chutes, from the crowds that packed Western and Belmont to the strange mystery of why the park suddenly closed in 1967, this is the story of a Chicago landmark that disappeared almost overnight.

Riverview Park is gone now. But for generations of Chicagoans, the memories never left.