HISTORY COLUMN: Amusement Park Visionaries
By Darrell Jabin
If you enjoy rides at amusement parks or traveling carnivals, there is a good chance you should be thankful for two people from Salem. Lee Eyerly and Frank Hrubetz, Jr. owned companies here in the Salem area that created and built rides for amusement parks and traveling shows throughout the nation. Some of those rides are still in operation.
Lee Eyerly was considered an aviation pioneer as well as an amusement ride manufacturer. He was born in Cuba, Illinois in 1892. His family moved to Montana while he was in his teens. He exhibited mechanical skills early in life and was employed repairing farm equipment. He built his first plane while in his early 20’s but was unable to find a suitable engine to make it fly.
Drought and wind erosion in Montana reduced opportunities and Eyerly, now married, chose to move his family to Salem where he became a heavy equipment operator working on roads. He opened a service station and in 1921 enrolled at Oregon Agriculture College (now Oregon State University) to study engineering. After college the family lived in Waldport for a few years where he worked as a ferry operator, opened another service station and spent time flying for fun.
Eyerly moved the family back to Salem in 1926. He directed construction of the first modern airplane built in our state and opened a flight school and airplane repair shop. He participated in stunt shows to encourage interest in aviation. He had to obtain a “sporting license” from the National Aeronautics Association to participate in the shows. The license issued to him in 1930 was signed by the Association chairman, Orville Wright. 27 years earlier Orville and his brother ,Wilbur made aviation history with the first powered, sustained and controlled airplane flight.
Salem passed a $50,000 bond measure in 1928 to build an airport and opened the facility that is now McNary field in 1929. Lee Eyerly was given a two year contract to manage the facility.
It was Eyerly’s mechanical abilities and his desire to train pilots that inadvertently got him into the business of creating amusement rides. He created a ground based device that allowed the operator to control movements like a real airplane. It was patented under the name “Orientator”. It could roll, loop, and turn. His grandson, Jon Eyerly, said “It would do everything but fly”.
A few of the devices were sold to the Cuban government, but there didn’t seem to be much of market for the machines. Someone saw the device in a corner of a warehouse gathering dust and suggested that Eyerly paint it, take it to a public event and charge people to ride it. The machine became a popular ride at fairs throughout the northwest. The name was changed to “Acroplane” and the Eyerly Aircraft Company started production of the machines, primarily as an amusement ride.
Frank Albert Hrubetz, Jr. was born in Salem on December 27, 1906. He graduated from Oregon State College (now Oregon State University) in 1930 with a degree in mechanical engineering and went to work for the Eyerly Aircraft Company.
Hrubetz helped design the first Acroplane and was shop superintendent as the company built the first 50 machines. The company focused on creating machines that imitated flight. Hrubetz helped develop rides called the Loop-O-Plane and Roll-O-Plane. The most popular ride the company produced was called the Octopus. There are variations called the Spider and Monster.
In 1939 he started his own company, Frank Hrubetz & Company and developed the Meteor, Paratrooper, Round Up and Tip Top. By 1970 his company was selling 60 rides per year, making it one of the largest manufacturers of amusement rides in the nation.