Read time: 10 min.

It doesn’t take much for me to start yammering about amusement park rides and slides: a rusty metal pole was enough to get me to write 2,000 words about Muncie’s old Kiddieland! Many don’t recall the place since it was only open for two years in the 1950s, but I’m sure you’ll find someone who remembers Muncie’s giant Kmart slide if you ask around. Aside from the memories, a concrete pad is all that remains of the structure.

Before Muncie could have a Kmart slide, it had to have a Kmart. The first Kmart in the country opened in San Fernando, California, in 1962. Two years later, the S.S. Kresge Company announced plans to build a 97,000-square-foot Muncie superstore at the corner of Bethel and Wheeling Avenues¹. 

Kresge was no stranger to Muncie: in 1912, the company opened its Ten Cent Store at 214 South Walnut, followed by the Kresge Dollar Store down the street eleven years later². In 1957 the Ten Cent Store was expanded during a project that gave Kresge ninety-six feet of frontage on South Walnut Street³.

Plans stalled to build the Kmart at Bethel and Wheeling, but, citing Muncie’s economic growth and need for department stores⁴, Kresge announced the construction of an even larger store on a sixteen-acre plot south of the city at Walnut Street and State Road 67 in November 1967. Initially, the 107,000-square-foot building was planned to consist of three sections partially consisting of an 84,000-square-foot Kmart and a Kmart Patio Shop⁵.

The Muncie Kmart opened on November 21, 1968, as the company’s 271st store in only six years. Aside from Kresge’s three stores, “Kmart Plaza” also featured four smaller establishments such as a barber shop and laundromat⁶. The superstore was wildly popular, and a second location opened at McGalliard Road and Broadway Avenue near the Muncie Mall in 1977. 

Despite its association with Kmart, the giant slide nearby had nothing to do with the superstore. In fact, it was a pet project of Bill Yohler, president of the Muncie Parks Board. In 1969, he returned from a trip to St. Louis, entranced by an enormous slide he’d seen there. “This thing is really tremendous,” Yohler raved. “There are twelve boards for sliders to ride and there were long lines of people of all ages waiting for turns on each board⁷.”

Yohler may have been onto something: we’ve all seen Fun Slide models like those manufactured by Frederiksen Industries at the county fair. They’re thirty-five feet tall and feature three sliding lanes that stretch from sixty-five to ninety feet long. The Big Dipper was on a different level: with twelve sliding lanes, the thing was forty feet wide, forty feet tall, and two hundred feet long⁸. It was massive! 

The slide, known as a “Sky Slide” or “Blue Dipper” model by the Elkhart firm that manufactured it⁹, was identical to one that opened in front of Mounds Mall in Anderson that summer 1969¹⁰. Yohler soon convinced the rest of the park board that the attraction would be a great way to attract people to Muncie’s parks, but the group balked at its $45,000 price tag¹¹. 

Fortunately, Charles Ray of a mysterious company called Jo-Ra Enterprises stepped to buy the slide. Initial plans called for its installation at a vacant corner of Tuhey Park. There, a private party would run it and cede the city 5% of its profits over a ten-year lease¹². 

The decision to locate the slide at Tuhey Park was unpopular with residents on North Street and Meeks Avenue, who raised concerns about parking congestion and the slide’s proximity to their back doors¹³. Days later, the parks board agreed to relocate it to an 8,000-square-foot parcel at Westside Park, which led to the most bizarre incident in the slide’s saga.

City officials called a special meeting about the slide between the Muncie Parks Board and Mayor Paul Cooley on June 18, 1969. Citing an urgent family matter, board president Bill Yohler left after two hours. Meanwhile, the remaining board members and Charles Ray of Jo-Ra visited Westside Park to inspect where the slide would stand.

At the park, Ray asked for a vote to finalize the slide’s placement. Out a lot of money since the board had only provided a tentative approval of his $45,000 purchase, Ray depended on the vote! Without their president, board members hopped in their cars and drove to Yohler’s house to take the vote. Roused from sleep, Yohler governed the meeting from his front porch while still dressed in his robe and pajamas¹⁴!

Shortly after the meeting, seven local architects sent the mayor a letter calling out the slide’s aesthetics and safety while questioning whether it was wise for a private company to own amusements at a public park¹⁵. Perhaps they’d forgotten that Westside had once been a thriving interurban park complete with a roller coaster and skating rink around the turn of the century. By that point, it didn’t matter, though, since Ray had had enough: three days after the architects’ letter was received, he erected the slide on a private plot of land just north of the Kmart to “avoid a big hassle with critical Muncie residents¹⁶,” he said.

For a while, the “Big Dipper” at Kmart Plaza was almost as much of a draw as the superstore was. Open weekdays from eleven to eleven and Sundays from noon to ten, the slide promised a thrilling 30-mph ride for those willing to buy a ticket. Thrifty riders could find free coupons at Kmart Plaza, the South Side Barber Shop, Speed Queen Fabric Care Center, On The Point Lumber, Guarantee Auto, Speedy Service Station, and Convenient Food Markets. 

Unfortunately, the fun didn’t last long: by 1970, its hours were cut to weekdays from three to ten and from noon to ten on weekends. By 1973, the slide was only open from one to nine. The last advertisement I found for the slide was on June 24, 1973. From there, it disappeared from print.

The Big Dipper may have stayed open for a year or two after 1973. After it closed, it stood through the 1970s and 80s. By 1989, locals considered it a hazard after two kids were injured trying to ride a skateboard and bicycle down its fiberglass troughs! Officials took notice and tried to figure out who was responsible for the attraction. It turned out that a California-based entity owned the land, but it hadn’t paid property taxes for several years! Attempts at contacting the company failed¹⁷.

A month after commissioners investigated the Big Dipper, the owner of a campground outside of Springfield, Ohio, offered to remove the slide at no cost if he could install it there. Officials said he was welcome to if other bidders didn’t pay for the privilege¹⁸, and the slide was sent to Hidden Oaks campground. Unfortunately, it was never installed¹⁹.

After the slide went away, Muncie’s first Kmart held on until April 2003, when it became one of 326 stores to shut down during the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Jackson Park Baptist Church purchased the building in 2005²⁰, and Small Engine Warehouse, a locally-owned power equipment retailer, acquired it in 2013²¹.

In 2014, Muncie’s north Kmart closed after thirty-seven years in operation. The building was converted to a U-Haul self-storage facility three years later. It’s hard to believe, but only three Kmarts remain open in the continental United States as of this writing! They’re in Miami, Florida; Westwood, New Jersey; and Bridgehampton, New York. As best I can tell, none of them has a giant slide standing next door.

I’m about twenty-five years too young to remember the Big Dipper next to Kmart firsthand, and I’m five years shy of being able to recall its abandoned frame. I do have memories of Kmart, though! While people across the nation have fond recollections of blue-light specials, deli subs at the cafe, and the phrase “Attention Kmart shoppers,” nostalgia for the Big Dipper sky slide remains uniquely Muncie.

Sources Cited
1 Francis, K. (1964, October 5). Plans for New K-Mart Store Are Confirmed. The Muncie Evening Press. p. 1.
2 Kresge Stores Herę Join in 50th Anniversary Event (1949, May 8). The Muncie Star. p. 12.
3 Self-Service Offered At New Kresge Store (1957, March 6). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 3.
4 New Muncie K Mart Store to Open Thursday (1968, November 20). The Muncie Star. p. 17.
5 Construction of New K-Mart Discount Store Announced (1967, November 5).  The Muncie Star. p. 2.
6 K Mart Opening Here Thursday Will Be 271st Unit in 6 Years (1968, November 17). The Muncie Star. p. 13.
7 Collier, W. (1969, June 3). Tuhey Park Will Get “Sky Slide”. The Muncie Evening Press. p. 1.
8 Kerr, R. (1969, June 19). Giant Slide Switched to Westside Site. The Muncie Star. p. 1.
9 Complaints on Slide Voiced (1969, June 10). Complaints on Slide Voiced. The Muncie Evening Press. p. 10.
10 (See footnote 8).
11 (See footnote 7).
12 Controversial ’Sky Slide’ Has Found Its Home (1969, July 1). The Muncie Star. p. 1.
13 (See footnote 9).
14 Huge “Sky-Slide Will Be Moved to West Side Park (1969, June 19). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 20.
15 Architects Oppose Park ‘Sky-Slide’ (1969, June 28). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 7.
16 (See footnote 12).
17 Walker, D. (1989, March 13). County moves to demolish abandoned slide. The Muncie Evening Press. p. 2.
18 Walker, D. (1989, April 17). Irksome abandoned Southside slide might be on its way to Ohio. The Muncie Evening Press. p. 2.
19 Quirk, S. Lost Muncie (2023, August 5). The gentleman who obtained it was Joe Reynolds it was to be installed at his campground in Beaver Creek, Ohio. He [Comment]. Facebook.
20 McBride, M. (2005, March 10). Church buys former Kmart building. The Muncie Star Press. p. 1.
21 Roysdon, K. (2013, September 10). Former Kmart to get a new owner, jobs. The Muncie Star Press. Pp. 1, 4.