Steel Pier opened on June 18, 1898, extending from the Atlantic City boardwalk out over the ocean at 1000 Boardwalk. Built by the Steel Pier Company, it grew into one of the most famous amusement piers on the East Coast, billed in its heyday as “The Amusement Wonder of the World” and hosting big bands, vaudeville acts, and the notorious diving horse show, in which a horse and rider leapt from a high platform into a pool of water below.
The pier changed hands several times over the decades, passing from Frank Gravatt in 1925 to showman George Hamid in 1945, later to Resorts International in 1978 and Donald Trump in 1988, and today to the Catanoso family’s Steel Pier Associates, LLC, which has owned and operated it since 2011. Despite storms, a 1969 fire that shortened the structure, and a devastating 1982 arson fire, Steel Pier was rebuilt and still operates as a family amusement park on the boardwalk, now anchored by a towering observation wheel.
Stats at a Glance
- Location: Atlantic City, New Jersey
- Operator: Steel Pier Associates, LLC (Catanoso family)
- Opened: June 18, 1898
- Pier Length: About 1,000 feet (reduced from a peak of 2,298 feet after fires and rebuilding)
- Signature Attraction: The Wheel, a 227-foot observation wheel
- Roller Coasters: Loco Motion and Crazy Crab
- Season: April through October (The Wheel operates March through December)
A Boardwalk Landmark Since 1898
For much of the 20th century, Steel Pier was synonymous with Atlantic City entertainment. It hosted the Miss America pageant from 1935 to 1938 and drew headline performers including Frank Sinatra, Al Jolson, and Diana Ross and The Supremes. Its most talked-about act, the high-diving horse, saw a horse plunge into a tank of water from a platform, a spectacle that ran for decades before closing in 1978 amid animal welfare concerns.
The pier survived storm damage, a December 1969 fire that shortened it by about a third ahead of the 1970 season, and a catastrophic December 1982 arson fire that burned for more than seven hours and destroyed most of the wooden pier, which by then was owned by Resorts International and used mainly for storage. The structure was rebuilt from the ground up in steel-reinforced concrete under Donald Trump’s ownership in the late 1980s, and the Catanoso family’s Atlantic Pier Amusements reopened it as a working amusement pier in 1993, keeping Steel Pier a fixture of the boardwalk into the present day.
The Ride Experience Today
Modern Steel Pier operates as a family-oriented amusement park built for a boardwalk setting, with rides positioned over the water rather than sprawling across acres of land. Its current lineup includes the Loco Motion and Crazy Crab roller coasters, a classic carousel, a Slingshot thrill ride, arcade games, and helicopter rides offering aerial views of the Atlantic City coastline.
The pier’s centerpiece is The Wheel, a 227-foot observation wheel installed in 2017 and imported from Italy. With 40 climate-controlled gondolas, it ranks among the tallest observation wheels in the United States and gives riders sweeping views of the boardwalk, the ocean, and the Atlantic City skyline.
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Steel Pier Photo Archive: July 2007
These are original ThrillZing photos of Steel Pier in Atlantic City taken on July 23, 2007, restored and upscaled from the original camera files. They show the pier and the shoreline from the air, the go-karts and slingshot tower from above, and the pier’s Ferris wheel seen from the dunes. All photos are free to reuse under a CC BY 4.0 license with credit to ThrillZing and a link to this page.
Roller Coasters at Steel Pier
Every Steel Pier coaster ThrillZing has covered — stats, ride experience and history for each:
Steel Pier FAQs
Is Steel Pier still open today?
Yes. Steel Pier continues to operate as an amusement pier on the Atlantic City boardwalk, typically running from April through October, with The Wheel observation wheel open longer, from March through December.
Who owns Steel Pier now?
Steel Pier has been owned and operated by the Catanoso family’s Steel Pier Associates, LLC since 2011. Earlier owners included Frank Gravatt, George Hamid, Resorts International, and, from 1988, Donald Trump.
Did Steel Pier burn down?
Steel Pier has survived several fires, most seriously a December 1982 arson fire that burned for over seven hours and destroyed most of the wooden pier while it sat largely unused under Resorts International’s ownership. It was later rebuilt in steel-reinforced concrete and reopened as an amusement pier in 1993.
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Photo: Detroit Publishing Company / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.