Tag Archives: Willow Point

Remembering Willow Point

29 Apr

I suspected that my blog — and subsequent article in last week’s Webster Herald — about Willow Point Park would strike a chord with a lot of my readers. After all, Webster’s very own little amusement park was very popular during its 30-year life, and well loved by both adults and children. Indeed, I’ve received some fun and touching emails, a few of which I’d like to share with you.

Sharon F. wrote,

My Dad worked at Haloid’s (which was later named Xerox) and he would take our family to Willow Point Park every summer for his Haloid work picnic. Seeing your article on the park this morning brought a flood of memories back.

Jackson T. wrote,

I worked there for one summer during my first year at the UR and managed the golf driving range, a notable and very popular feature that you did not mention.  This was a very busy part of the park, and it even provided the visual excitement of watching golf balls being picked up from that huge, sloping lawn while people were still hitting other ones in that vicinity.

My favorite memory, though, came from Jean Palermo, who wrote:

Amazing that this article came out today as my husband (Samme) and I celebrate 58 years of meeting at Willow Point Park on April 16, 1967. We’ve been married for 55 years.

Jean sent me this photo that she and her husband took at a Willow Point photo booth in 1967.

If you’d like to explore a little deeper into Willow Point, you might be interested in this short movie, created by Frank Laloggia, a local filmmaker better known for his 1988 film, Lady in White. Apparently it was one of the first films he made, and it’s very much a tribute to the old park.

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email me  at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Instagram and Threads (@missyblog)

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Subscribe” link on the right side of this page (or all the way at the bottom of the page if you’re on your phone).

(posted 4/29/2025)

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April History Bit: Willow Point Park

15 Apr

We all know Seabreeze Amusement Park in Irondequoit. It’s been around for almost 150 years, making happy summer memories for generations. Fewer, however, will remember Willow Point Park, Webster’s very own amusement park. It was in business for only three decades, but to this day it evokes very fond memories.

Willow Point Park was located on Bay Road (where Willow Point Rd. is now), a little more than a half mile north of the Empire/Bay Rd. intersection. It was a small, rather quaint amusement park, quite different from the sprawling parks that today’s kids know today. But its more intimate atmosphere was one of Willow Point’s biggest draws, especially for young families. It was also popular because, despite its moderate size, it featured many unusual attractions which were – and are – hard to find at the bigger amusement parks.

Everett DeNeve opened the first incarnation of Willow Point Park in the early 1930s. It began as just a miniature golf course, but every year DeNeve expanded it with new attractions. By 1939, he sold Willow Point to Jack Garliner, who would direct its expansion well into the early 1960s. 

In many respects, Willow Point seemed more like a summer camp than an amusement park. Throughout its almost 30-year history, its various attractions included an archery range, trampoline, batting cages, tennis, volleyball, badminton and small boats. But of course there were also plenty of traditional amusements and rides, including an arcade, a roller coaster, carousel, tilt-a-whirl, kiddie rides (which by today’s standards were especially quaint), and several other rides for young thrill-seekers.

As Garliner added and swapped out features through the years, Willow Point became a favorite gathering place for all ages. Teens and young adults would crowd into the roller rink/dance hall to see nationally-known bands, and a bingo hall added in the 1950s attracted older adults. 

Garlinger even made sure that disadvantaged children could enjoy his park. In the 1950s, he started offering “free days” for blind children one day a year and provided free lunches. Those events were followed later by similar days for children with multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy.

In 1964, a year before he died, Garliner offered to sell Willow Point Park to the Town of Webster, with no success. After Garliner’s death, Joseph Schuler bought Willow Point in 1966, and kept it open until Labor Day, 1968. The land sat vacant for years before it was redeveloped as the Waterview Townhouse Apartments complex.

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email me  at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Instagram and Threads (@missyblog)

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Subscribe” link on the right side of this page (or all the way at the bottom of the page if you’re on your phone).

(posted 4/15/2025)

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