De Angelis made a wise choice in traveling to North Tonawanda.  The Spillman Engineering Corporation’s roots lay in the Armitage-Herschell Company, founded in the late 1870s by Allan Herschell, his brother George and James Armitage. Originally a manufacturing and repair facility, the company built its first carousel in 1883 after Allan experienced a Charles Dare machine in Hornell while on his way to New York City.  Armitage-Herschell quickly became one of the most prolific producers of carousels in the United States, specializing in portable machines designed for county fairs, carnivals and the like.  When economic depression and unsuccessful land speculation forced the company into bankruptcy around 1900, Allan Herschell went into business with his wife’s family, along with other partners, forming the Herschell-Spillman Company.  This new partnership would eventually purchase the assets of its predecessor and a few years later expanded its line of carousels to include the larger “park” variety.  Herschell-Spillman also began producing more elaborate designs for their horses and introduced a new jumping action mechanism to make their carousels more exciting.  In 1904, the company began adding exotic animals such as tigers, zebras, dogs, pigs and other “non-horse” varieties to produce menagerie carousels as well.  Allan Herschell retired from the company in 1913 and, following the end of World War I, it would be renamed the Spillman Engineering Corporation.

According to family tradition, Domenick De Angelis had a vision for the carousel he wished to operate, as he made a number of specific design requests of Spillman Engineering.  Upon completion, the new carousel traveled from Western New York to Massachusetts, to be installed at Mayflower Grove in Pembroke where De Angelis had leased land to operate a carnival and penny arcade.  In 1931, he expanded his operations by purchasing another park in Stoughton, MA, which apparently included a second carousel that was eventually lost to fire while later in storage. The 1924 carousel was placed in storage around 1931 and remained there until 1940, when De Angelis opened an arcade at Hough’s Neck in Quincy, MA, which included the reinstallation of the machine.

Domenick De Angelis died in 1952, but his family continued to operate the carousel for two more years, when the land on which it stood was taken to build a new school.  With the loss of the land, the carousel was dismantled and stored in a nearby skating rink building from 1954 to 1956. It was then moved and stored in the basement and under the porch of the De Angelis’ house that was adjacent to the roundhouse. Ironically, the skating rink caught fire not long after the carousel had been moved and it could have been lost forever.  Over the ensuing 34 years, offers were received from interested parties wishing to purchase animals or other elements from the carousel.  One potential buyer in the 1980s offered $150,000 for just two of the horses.  Despite the temptation of lucrative sales, however, Antoinette impressed upon her children the importance of keeping the carousel complete as a legacy to their father’s dream.  They listened. When Antoinette died in 1988, the family had the parts transported to Carousel Works in Mansfield, OH, where they hoped to have the machine restored for future operation at a location to be determined.  Here the disassembled parts would remain for another 28 years.

The following August, representatives from Buffalo met with members of the De Angelis family in Mansfield, OH, where the carousel remained in storage.  Here they were able to examine the pieces and make their case for bringing the carousel back to the region of its birth.  Following an actual vote, the family accepted.  Though it may not have played out the way they had planned, by agreeing to sell the carousel, the family ensured the continuation of Domenick’s dream, allowing the machine to once again entertain young and old alike.

But securing a sales agreement was only a small part of the job.  Funds would be needed to pay for the carousel and, after 65 years in storage, a huge—and costly—restoration project lay ahead.  In December 2014, Buffalo Heritage Carousel, Inc. was formed as a non-profit organization in order to raise funds and coordinate the execution of the project.  With a formal organization and an existing carousel sitting in Ohio to give a “face” to the project, the next step was for an organization to put up the necessary seed money to get things moving forward.  Enter the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation, who provided an initial $25,000 to place a deposit on the carousel, with the remainder of the $250,000 purchase price to be granted once a suitable site to install it had been acquired.

The Wendt Foundation funding opened the door to additional support, as Assemblyman Sean Ryan obtained funds towards the restoration effort while Chris Jacobs secured further funds towards land acquisition and building construction. A grant of $1.2 million from the governor was matched by KeyBank while individual supporters adopted many of the carousel animals, the combination of public and private support making the project a true community effort. Thanks to this outpouring of support, the De Angelis carousel was acquired in June 2016 and officially became the Buffalo Heritage Carousel.  A site near Canalside’s wharf was also confirmed for the attraction.

Restoration of an antique carousel is not for the faint of heart.  But a team made up of restoration professionals, artists, artisans and volunteers combined their efforts over the course of the next five years, utilizing authentic methods to ensure the carousel retained its historic status. The task of restoring and reconditioning the carousel frame was undertaken by Carousel & Carvings in Marion, OH.  This firm also restored the rounding boards, mirrors and inner scenery panels, while replicating the machine’s rocking chariot and fabricating a new, accessible chariot using historic guidelines.

Closer to home, a workshop was established in North Tonawanda—one street away from where the carousel was originally built by Spillman Engineering Corporation—to house the local restoration efforts. Here, master carver Patrick Stanczyk led a team of volunteers in the repair, reassembly and restoration of the wooden animals and other details.  Volunteers donated countless hours to bring these critical parts back to life. Paint layers were stripped by hand using a heat gun in an effort to identify the initial paint colors used.  Laurie Hauer-LaDuca drafted color design sheets for each animal and a team of volunteers, led by Helen Ronan, applied the paint. The painting effort was supervised by nationally recognized carousel artist Rosa Patton, who traveled from North Carolina six times over the restoration period to train the volunteers and oversee the painting process.  Several types of paint were used, including gold leaf and artist’s oils for the animals and sign painter’s enamels for the heavy wear areas.  These were followed by seven layers of clear coat.  The carousel’s decorative valances, inner scenery panels and two of the chariots were painted at Patton’s North Carolina studio.  The rounding boards, each with a central scenery panel, were painted by Helen Ronan and three volunteer artists.  Each features local landmarks, Western New York Seasons and local wildlife. With paint applied to the animals, Laurie Hauer-LaDuca and her husband David painstakingly installed the horsehair tails, mirror-backed jewels and other elements.

The machine commissioned by Domenick De Angelis from the Spillman Engineering Corporation in 1924 is a menagerie, single-level carousel.  It is a small-framed park model that was designed for more or less permanent installation, versus the portable machines for which Herschell-Spillman and Spillman Engineering were known.  The latter typically featured simpler animals and were designed to be frequently disassembled for transport from site to site.  The carousel features 14 sections, with 34 animals arrayed in three concentric rows, plus three bench seating areas known as chariots.  As a menagerie carousel, in addition to horses the De Angelis machine also includes, on the outside row, a lion, a tiger, a giraffe, a deer and an ostrich.  To these has been added a sea dragon to replace the unique armored lead horse that is displayed in the roundhouse in its unrestored condition.  Typical of a park carousel, the figures on the outer row are depicted as standing, while the inner two rows are “jumpers” that employ Spillman’s moving mechanism.  Like the carousel itself, music for the riders also originated in North Tonawanda. The carousel’s original Wurlitzer 125 band organ was missing and has been replaced with a Wurlitzer Model 153 duplex orchestral organ of the same vintage.

Despite the amount of time it spent in storage, the carousel was nearly complete when it was acquired, missing only a few of its figures.  Four antique inner row, Spillman-manufactured figures were sourced from around the country, three of which were mounted on the carousel with the fourth held in reserve as a spare. In addition, two other antique figures were acquired—a sea dragon, formerly part of a Herschell-Spillman park machine from Michigan, was acquired to replace the original armored lead horse, while a middle row jumping mule figure came from the Pavillion Herschell-Spillman carousel at Myrtle Beach, SC.  In its new guise, this figure has become “Buffalo Sal” in honor of the region’s Erie Canal heritage.  She stands poised in front of the newly carved accessible chariot that also features an Erie Canal theme. In fact, 14 artistic panels throughout the carousel reflect various scenes and themes from Western New York’s rich past and long association with its bodies of water.  These paintings were expertly executed by carousel artist Rosa Patton.  Being able to replace the missing figures with authentic and contemporary figures from the same manufacturer allows the Buffalo Heritage Carousel to maintain its status as “pure” in the parlance of the National Carousel Association’s carousel census.

It could be difficult to put a price on such a story as this—the return of not only a locally manufactured carousel, but a rare one featuring numerous one-of-a-kind elements, owned by a single family and lovingly restored by professionals and volunteers from numerous states, thanks to funding provided from public and private sources alike. Yet riders of all ages can experience this priceless piece of Western New York’s heritage for only one dollar. Before or after their nostalgic ride, visitors can explore a “Heritage Corner” in one section of the roundhouse.  On display in this area is the original, one-of-a-kind armored lead horse, still bearing the last coat of paint applied by Domenick De Angelis, a memorial to the legacy of the De Angelis family and the carousel’s former history. An additional legacy is associated with this figure, thanks to the personal efforts of two women, who contacted friends and family of Robert Kresse and succeeded in raising well over $100,000 to have the lead horse named for him in recognition of his tireless support for the project, as well as an additional horse for his wife Mary Ann, which is on the carousel itself.  Accompanying the lead horse are two “spare” horses that can be used as replacements if needed.  One of these is a dappled red roan middle row horse, original to the De Angelis carousel, that was replaced by Sal the mule, while the second one is a dark gray inner row stargazer horse.  In addition to the animals, visitors can see a working model, measuring 36-inches in diameter, of the 1915 Herschell-Spillman portable menagerie carousel that used to operate at New Rialto Park in Olcott, created 20 years ago by master carver Charles Hunt of Elma, as well as a history of the carousel and photographs of the De Angelis family.  Television monitors supply video footage of the restoration effort.

Nearly a century ago, an immigrant’s dream-turned-reality embarked on an incredible journey that has ultimately brought it back to the region of its birth.  And after nearly two decades of conception and execution, that which goes around has indeed come around. Thanks to the efforts of countless individuals and organizations, it has now begun the next chapter in its charmed life in a setting that looks to the future while embracing and preserving the past.

“There’s something about this very simple ride that can bring pleasure to anyone of any age,” observed BHC president Laurie Hauer-LaDuca. “You pick a horse, animal, creature of your choosing that catches your eye and you go for a ride and it takes you to another place. It’s different for everyone but it's definitely a place to make a special memory.”  It seems likely that Domenick De Angelis would agree.