Skyline Amusement Park’s Carousel is Sold

A colorful piece of Southern Tier history has been sold.

The disassembled carousel that once ran at the old Skyline Amusement Park in Tioga Center has been auctioned off by Mapes Auctioneers in Vestal with the successful bidder being a Broome County man.

Mike McKilligan of Johnson City placed the winning bid of $37,500.

Auction house officials told reporters that the merry-go-round still works.

It’s believed to have been made by the Herschel Spillman company in Tonawanda, which is same company that manufactured all of the iconic carousels still operating in Broome County.

Skyline Park closed in the 1980s.

The ride had been shipped to a park in Massachusetts.  When that park closed, a brother of the original Skyline Amusement Park owner brought the carousel back to the Southern Tier and placed it into storage in the 1990s.

The auction house said there had been interest in the carousel, which was likely built in the 1920s, as far away as Oregon.

McKilligan said he had not decided what he would do with the 32 horse merry-go-round.