John C. Allen

✶May 21, 1907

†August 17, 1979

1 candle burning, 7 lit in all

About their life

John C. Allen was a roller coaster designer who was responsible for the revival of wooden roller coasters which began in the 1960s. He attended Drexel University. He started working for the Philadelphia Toboggan Company in 1934 as a coaster operator and rose to become president of the company by 1954. He designed more than 25 coasters and made significant contributions to roller coaster technology. He once said, "You don't need a degree in engineering to design roller coasters, you need a degree in psychology."

American roller coaster designer

☆ Follow

Biography from the article John C. Allen on the English Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.