Lost park bones: Seven Seas
By the end of the 60s things were going quite well for the young Six Flags company. The second park in Georgia had recently opened, plans were underway for a 1971 opening near St. Louis, and the original—the first successful regional theme park in the country—was going strong outside Arlington. That city’s ambitious mayor, Tommy Vandergriff, had yet another idea. Why not a second park next to Six Flags? Walter Knott turned down the offer to collaborate, suggesting Tommy talk to George Millay, whose Sea World park in San Diego was doing well, with a second location slated for Ohio in 1970. Millay wouldn’t even return his calls, so the mayor turned back to Angus Wynne, head of the Great Southwest company that had built Six Flags. A sea life park seemed to be the ticket; they could even charge a double-park ticket and provide transportation connections. The duo enthusiastically launched into the project, setting up the finances, which would be handled by the city, with Six Flags covering design and operation.
Along the way Great Southwest’s new parent company, the Penn Central Railroad, imploded. Lost in the collateral damage was Angus, who left the company. Standing alone, but convinced they had a winner on their hands, Arlington soldiered onward, opening the park in 1972 after an increasingly disturbing series of setbacks and delays. You can read the story in Imagineering an American Dreamscape, with a fuller account in this series of articles at the Arlington Historical Society. Hint…the park doesn’t make it.
I bring all of this up because as I was working on another project I came across a recent video that explores the park site, looking for old bones from Seven Seas. There’s more there than I was aware of, such as original pathways, lighting, and various structures. The old water tanks and pools are largely filled in, their concrete structures still peeking up around the edges. The central pavilion has been repurposed, still featuring rock support pillars at the corners (lots of rock in the original park). And the water filtration plant, so crucial for a sea life operation, still stands off to the corner of the property, water pipes visible at the rear of the building.
I’ve always been fascinated by park archaeology, digging for lost bones. It’s fun to wander around and see what’s still there. Check out the YouTube video where I pulled these images (the map is from my files); thanks to The Out Seers for providing this look back into history.
By the way…even though George Millay never showed any interest at first, he finally showed up a few years later after the park had been struggling. He bought it and tried running it with no better success. His next idea? Transform the property into a gated water park. Arlington wasn’t interested…and so George bought the plot of land directly across the highway from Seven Seas and got the last laugh as he built the first (wildly successful) Wet ‘n Wild. See the last image in this gallery.
