There’s a characteristic ratcheting and gear sound you hear as you go through a turnstile. It’s the sound that you hear when many theme parks open and you go through the front gate or when you move from the queue onto the loading platform. It’s a sound that’s filled with excitement and anticipation for most of us, but have you ever wondered about the history of the humble turnstile? I’m a bit of a nerd and so I think about such things. Here’s a brief history of this common theme park device with beginnings in ancient farms and modernized at a Piggly Wiggly grocery store.

Some of the earliest examples of turnstiles are thought to have emerged in first millennium England farms. These devices allowed people to cross fences while keeping livestock contained. These evolved over the years into the rotating wooden cross on a post. Towards the 19th century these were adapted as access-control devices for everything from graveyards to toll roads to commercial areas. In the early 20th century the modern turnstile came about as a way of regulating customer flow and reducing theft. One of the earliest examples many points to are the 1913-1916 installs at self service Piggly Wiggly supermarkets. However, around 1915 the were also adopted at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in the UK, so perhaps we have our first theme park example over 100 years ago!

Turnstiles are still common in amusement and them parks today for the same crowd access purposes as the earlier devices. One of the leaders in this field is Hayward Turnstiles of Milford, Connecticut. Hayward has a section of their website devoted specifically to amusement parks and counts places like Busch Gardens, Universal, Six Flags and Hershey Park as customers. These turnstiles serve many purposes including safety, security and orderly traffic flow. The counter feature can also provide accurate attendance or ridership data which can be very valuable to a park.Installing a turnstile can provide big economic savings for a park as well. On a recent visit to LEGOLAND Billund it was surprising to see only a couple of supervisors working the front gates with access to the park completely controlled by turnstiles opened by scanning a bar code.

I often remind myself that what may appear to one person as simple can be an entire universe to someone else and this is evident by the vast number of turnstile choices and options a company like Hayward offers parks. So the next time you visit your local theme park give a quick glance and thought about the humble turnstiles you see. That iconic sound, the push with your thighs that at first meets light resistance, but then rotates open. It’s part of the look, sounds and feel of a theme park experience that simultaneously helps keep things safe and organized.