The landmark amusement park made the announcement on September 9, marking an end to its 119 years of operation. After more than a century of welcoming families through its gates, Clementon Park and Splash World in Camden County, New Jersey, has announced the ‘difficult decision’ to close permanently. The property is now up for sale.
One of New Jersey’s oldest amusement parks, Clementon Park and Splash World, located in Camden County, had operated continuously since 1907, when Theodore Gibbs and his sons opened it as a trolley park. Over the years, it has welcomed millions of visitors, survived the fire in 1931, weathered ownership changes, and, more recently, even navigated the financial turbulence that has claimed many regional parks over the past decade.
The park first opened in 1907, when Theodore Gibbs and his two sons introduced it as a traditional ‘trolley park’, built at the end of a transit line. In 1931, a fire nearly destroyed the park, but it survived. The Gibbs family’s original stewardship lasted until 1977, before ownership passed to others. In 1993, it underwent a renovation, adding the Splash World waterpark, featuring multiple water slides, a wave pool, a lazy river, and the 13,000-square-foot Aquatic Paradise ‘sprayground’. The renovation cost $5 million, and it also attracted more visitors. Then came the 2019 crisis, when loan defaults left the park dark. The 2021 purchase by IB Parks & Entertainment was a rescue.
Clementon Park & Splash World is one of the oldest operating amusement parks in the world. The growing popularity of trolley lines drew visitors from neighbouring Camden. For decades afterwards, the park changed hands repeatedly. As the company operates multiple parks across the country, including Indiana Beach and Sahara Sam’s, this rescue gave hope that Clementon might integrate into a larger portfolio.