Walter and Cordelia Knott Biography
Knott's Berry Farm
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BUENA PARK, Calif.– The year was 1920 when Walter and Cordelia Knott moved to the then-sleepy community of Buena Park, California to farm 20 acres (8ha) of rented land. Today, that land is part of 160-acre (65ha) Knott’s Berry Farm. And, while the Knott Family no longer owns the venerable attraction, the Knott spirit of hard work and down-home hospitality lives on in new owners Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, who acquired Knott’s Berry Farm in December 1997.
The Knotts’ first winter on the Farm was unseasonably cold and much of their first crop was ruined by frost. But relying on his ability to make the most of what he had, Walter initiated his practice of selling directly to grocers, thus eliminating costly middlemen, and was able to realize a small profit.
Walter’s keen eye for sound enterprise and his dogged determination to succeed were attributes which became evident early in his boyhood years and remained solid through his life and career. His father died when he was six and by the time he was nine, Walter was raising vegetables on vacant lots, selling the produce in the morning before school and delivering newspapers in the evenings to help supplement the family income.
In 1927, when the country was enjoying the height of prosperity, an oil bonanza sky-rocketed land values in Buena Park to $1,500 an acre (0.4ha), and Knott bought ten acres (4ha) at that price. The Depression hit a year later and land dropped to $360 an acre (0.4ha). Friends advised him to default on the payments and buy adjacent land at a lower price, but Walter stood fast.
He maintained his payments on the acreage, bought an additional ten acres (4ha) at the lower price and spent the last of the family’s savings to build an adobe structure that became the Farm’s first permanent building.
Ready for occupancy in 1928, the building was 80 feet (24m) long and housed a tea room, berry market and plant nursery. By now, the Knott family had four children – son Russell and daughters Virginia, Toni and Marion – and, working together, they formed a family bond which prevailed throughout the years.
It was not until the 1930s that Walter became associated with the “boysenberry” which would become the family trademark. Nearby, Anaheim Parks Superintendent Rudolph Boysen had experimented with a new strain of berry but the plants kept dying on the vine. Walter took the scraggly plants, nurtured them to health and named the new berry – a cross between a loganberry, red raspberry and blackberry – after its originator. Today, all boysenberries in the world can trace their roots to Knott’s Berry Farm.
As another means of staving off Depression hardships, Cordelia began selling jams and jellies made from Walter’s berries. These sold well and were soon followed by home-baked pies, hot biscuits and sandwiches. Then, on June 13, 1934, Cordelia served eight fried chicken dinners on her wedding china – for the all-inclusive price of 65 cents – and the world’s largest chicken dinner restaurant was born.
The success of the chicken dinners was immediate and by 1940 the restaurant was serving as many as 4,000 dinners on Sunday evenings. The Chicken Dinner Restaurant is still serving up the original fried chicken dinner that started it all.
To give waiting customers something to do and to pay homage to the pioneering spirit of his grandparents and his love of the Old West, Walter developed Ghost Town, eventually the first of Knott’s Berry Farm’s four themed areas. The first structure was the Gold Trails Hotel, which was built from pieces from a hotel that had been constructed in Prescott, Arizona in 1868 – coincidentally, the same year Knott’s grandparents came west. Adhering to authenticity, Walter brought in other pieces from buildings from deserted ghost towns and Knott’s Ghost Town as it exists today emerged. Additions to the town were made as the years passed.
In the 1960s, the Calico Mine Ride and Timber Mountain Log Ride were added and Knott’s built its second themed area: Fiesta Villageâ, a tribute to California’s early Spanish heritage. The third themed area opened in 1975 – Roaring 20s (re-themed in 1996 into The Boardwalk) – featuring the Corkscrew, the world’s first looping coaster.
In 1983, Knott’s debuted a first in the amusement park industry with its six-acre (2.4ha) Camp Snoopy, the world’s first theme park “land” designed specifically for kids. Wild Water Wildernessâ, a four acre (1.6ha) outdoor river wilderness area featuring the whitewater-rafting ride Bigfoot Rapidsâ, added in 1988, followed by Indian Trails in 1993.
It is the imagination and vision of Walter and Cordelia Knott, carried on today by new park owner Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, operator of amusement park resorts nationwide, that continues to provide the spirit behind Knott’s Berry Farm. It was Walter and Cordelia who in 1951 bought and restored the 70 acre (28ha) town of Calico, located between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Following the town’s restoration, they deeded the property to San Bernardino County for use as a county park.
It was also the Knotts’ decision to build the country’s only brick-by-brick replica of Independence Hall, complete with Liberty Bell, as a free-admission educational resource for Farm guests and Orange County residents.
Cordelia Knott died in 1974 at the age of 84 and Walter Knott continued to live on the Farm he loved until his death in 1981 – a week before his 92nd birthday. The Knott Family maintained operation of Knott's Berry Farm until its friendly acquisition by Cedar Fair, Entertainment Company in December 1997.
In keeping with Walter and Cordelia’s original goals, Knott’s Berry Farm continues to combine quality, wholesome family entertainment with nostalgia and history. Cedar Fair is currently expanding Knott’s with the most new rides, shows and attractions in the park’s 100-year history, while maintaining those simpler features that continue to make it the place where locals and tourists alike feel at home.
About Knott’s Berry Farm and Cedar Fair Entertainment Company:
Knott’s Berry Farm is owned and operated by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, a publicly traded partnership that is listed for trading on The New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “FUN.” In addition to Knott’s Berry Farm, Cedar Fair owns and operates ten other amusement parks, three water parks, one indoor water park, and five hotels. Cedar Fair also operates the Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park in California under a management contract. Visit knotts.com or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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