Talk:Water slide

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[edit] Historical and technological origins of water slide

Slides, together with Seesaws, Swings and Sandboxes, make up the four S's of the playground. Their origin is obscure--while seesaws and swings date back to at least the 16th century, the slide is quite a new invention, perhaps even as late as the 1870s:

1. When and in what context do water slides first appear?
2. What is the first pictorial or textual evidence for the practice of sliding on a wet incline?
3. Did slides as we know them in playgrounds and amusement parks originate in snow slides or water slides, in hot or cold climates?

These questions are interesting from the point of view of the relation between technology and pleasure--the tendency to find amusement in mechanical instruments that put the subject into abrupt motion. I will appreciate any contribution towards solving the mystery of the water slide. -14:58, 20 June 2006 User:Umbo (Talk | contribs)

Loosely, I think it orginated in the US in somewhere paste the 1950s, nearby to rivers, such as Wisconsin Dells, where people would tube with tractor tire tubes. That's how Schlitterbahn, New Braunfels, Texas originated:

Schlitterbahn (History): the Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort in New Braunfels, Texas, originally opened in 1979 with four water slides, is built along the cool spring-fed waters of the Comal River. Bob and Billye Henry purchased 40 acres (16 hectares) on the Comal River called Landa Resort in the early 1970s. They slowly added the water recreation that is now known as Schlitterbahn West. In 1991, the Henrys bought another 25 acre (10 ha) piece of property known as Camp Warnecke and transformed it into Schlitterbahn East.

I'm guessing other parks evolved similar to this one. --Sadi Carnot 15:57, 7 July 2007 (UTC)