Address
243 Moffett Boulevard

Building Status
TBD

Year Built
1946

Architectural Description
tbd

Historical Significance
The spirit of innovation and creativity which defines the early days of the "Silicon Valley" doesn't just apply to the computer industry. The modern roller coaster and theme park industry owe a great deal to Arrow Development, a company that was located here in Mountain View during the city's early transition from a farm town to a Silicon Valley city.

In 1946 two World War II vets, Ed Morgan and Karl Bacon, formed a small machine shop that they named Arrow Development. The two men built their company around the slowly growing amusement park industry. Their shop was first located at 243 Moffett Boulevard, in a commercial area just north of Downtown Mountain View. They started out small, building Merry-go-rounds and other rides for local amusement parks. But in 1953, they were contacted by Walt Disney, who was just beginning to plan an new type of amusement park, a "theme park" we all know today as Disneyland.

Mr. Disney hired Arrow Development to help design and build many of Disneyland's original and early rides including the following classics:

• Mad Tea Party (Tea Cups)
• Snow White's Adventures
• Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
• King Arthur Carousel

The rides were designed, built, and tested in Mountain View. Mr. Disney made frequent trips up to Mountain View to make sure the design and testing was going right. Then they were quickly shipped down to Anaheim to be ready for the parks opening. As Disneyland became successful and began to grow, Mr. Disney helped Arrow Development to expand. The company went on to build the following rides in the months and years following Disneyland's grand opening:

• Casey Jr. Circus Train
• Dumbo Flying Elephants.
• Autopia
• Alice in Wonderland

Mr. Disney became a frequent visitor to Mountain View, checking out the mock-ups of his latest Disneyland attraction. Perhaps the greatest achievement that Arrow made in its office on Moffett Boulevard, was the development of the Matterhorn Bobsled ride. The Matterhorn was the first modern steel tube roller coaster. It had a revolutionary design that paved the way for the modern steel roller coasters of today. It's fitting that Disneyland's first mountain was designed and perfected here in a town named Mountain View.

After construction of the Matterhorn, Disney bought a third of Arrow Development, and moved the company from Moffett Boulevard to a new and larger plant at 1555 Plymouth Street in the North Bayshore Area. In the new location, Arrow went on to develop new ride systems for Disney, and develop the vehicles and tracks for the following attractions:

• It's a Small World
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Adventure Through Inner Space
• Haunted Mansion

In fact, an entire mock up of the Pirates of the Caribbean track was built right here in Mountain View. There are pictures of Mr. Disney and the Arrow Design team riding a test version of the ride with the wind tunnel of NASA Ames in the background.

When Arrow wasn't developing rides for Disney, it was developing rides for other amusement parks. It developed the modern log flume ride, which can be see all around the world in amusement and theme parks. In the 1970s, the company perfected and brought back the loop into roller coasters. The last time a loop had been built in a roller coaster was in 1901 at Coney Island. In the 1970s Ed and Karl sold the company, and by 1980s Arrow had left Mountain View. Arrow is still a successful roller coaster design company, but many of their greatest achievements and break throughs happened right here in Mountain View. So residents of Mountain View can proudly say a part of Disneyland was built in their own backyard.

See Also
Arrow Dynamics today