Background
Vaszin was born in Romania in April, 1885, and came to the United States in 1904.
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Aurel Vaszin
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At that time, he was trained as a cabinet maker, with a sixth grade education. In 1913 he took a job as a craftsman at an amusement park headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut. He worked on assignments for the Lakeside Amusement Park in Dayton, Ohio, after which he planned to open his own business in Dayton.
Between 1919 and 1920, he opened the Dayton Fun House, an amusement park in Dayton.
This was later renamed to, and produced trains and other supplies for over 400 amusement parks around the country. He also developed and opened the Forest Park Zoological Gardens on 43 acres of land located off of North Main Street in Dayton.
But this was forced to close in 1935 during the Great Depression. As the Dayton Fun House grew in popularity, it began producing miniature trains and other gear for other amusement parks.
After World World War II, it was renamed to and attracted designer John Miller.
They began designing entire roller coasters for other parks, some much larger than they could set up in Dayton. This included a number of international projects, such as a mile-long ravine coaster in a national park in Guatemala, and the "Russian Mountain" in Mexico City"s Chapultepec Park. The "Russian Mountain"/"Louisiana Montaña Rusa" was billed in 1964 as the largest roller coaster in the world - 110 ft high and 5,000 ft lougitude
As of 2008 it was the oldest roller coaster in Mexico, and one of the only National Academy of Design rides still in operation.
Vaszin also designed some of National Academy of Design"s most popular miniature trains, including the "Century Flyer", which was used in around 100 parks. As of 2012, the Century Flyer in Conway, Arkansas is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, due to being one of the few remaining National Academy of Design trains in operation.
Vaszin retired in 1973, and National Academy of Design was sold and renamed International Amusement Devices. He continued to advise the company until his death on May 15, 1979.
He was survived by two sisters in Romania.
