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Students at the Ross Street M.E. Sunday School in Wilkes-Barre jammed into five passenger rail cars at the Lehigh Valley Train Station on Canal Street in Wilkes-Barre for the short ride to Hanover Grove on Aug. 1, 1875.

Hanover Grove with open rolling hills, patches of trees and a stream was a primary destination for picnics.

“Some climbed the rough and rugged mountain sides, some followed the bubbling brook, some gathered ferns and immortelles and wild flowers of every hue and kind,” the Daily Record of the Times newspaper reported Aug. 7, 1875, about the school’s picnic.

“The party, very wisely, left Hanover Grove about 5 o’clock and thus reaching home before night. All voted Hanover Grove the pleasantest picnic grounds in the valley,” the newspaper reported.

Hanover Grove existed from 1880 to 1892, when the grove became Hanover Park. Hanover Park in 1905 became known as Sans Souci Park until its closure in 1970.

Today, Hanover Area Jr./Sr. High School is located at the site that included rides, roller coasters and dance and picnic pavilions.

Hanover Grove was located on the Nanticoke branch of the L&amp;S Railroad and only accessible by rail or horse prior to vehicles coming of age in the early 1900s.

“The picnic held yesterday at Hanover Grove under the auspices of the St. Aloysius Temperance Society of Wilkes-Barre was a success in every particular. The trains, composed of eight cars, carried about 700 persons to the grounds. The day was pleasantly spent, the music and dancing being very good and order was maintained throughout,” the Wilkes-Barre Record reported Aug. 5, 1881.

As Hanover Grove was the scene of picnics for schools, churches and organizations, improvements were made at the site expanding the grounds, including an artificial lake by damming Garinger’s Creek in 1893.

With renovations completed, Hanover Grove became Hanover Park on July 4, 1893, according to a report in the Wilkes-Barre News.

“Hanover Park the new picnic resort recently fitted up by the Traction Company along their Nanticoke line a few miles south of the city, was formally opened to the public yesterday with a monster picnic under the auspices of the Ninth Regiment Band. People assembled from every town in the valley to visit it to enjoy the excellent music and incidentally to assist the band financially,” the Wilkes-Barre News reported July 5, 1893.

By the early 1900s, plans called for Hanover Park to be expanded larger to include rides, a roller coaster and more dance and picnic pavilions.

“Wilkes-Barre is to have a Coney Island of its own with all the amusement features and none of the drawbacks which have made Coney disreputable. The new park for Wilkes-Barre is to be located at Hanover Park, the park having passed yesterday into the hands of a syndicate who are so well known that nothing amiss will be even imagined against it,” the Wilkes-Barre News reported March 3, 1905.

Nearly $125,000 was spent to renovate the park with rides and the first roller coaster called Aerial Railway. A Japanese restaurant and a skating rink were also built at the park, which was renamed Sans Souci Park when it reopened in 1905.

“Among the additions is an auto coaster, the newest thing in rapid transit consisting of 15 automobiles arranged on trucks so that one can have the pleasure of running an auto without having to fear running into every tree and telegraph pole along the roadside,” the newspaper reported.

Picnics continued to be held at Sans Souci Park for many schools and different ethnic organizations.

“More than 10,000 persons attended the fifth annual Polish Union Day at Sans Souci Park yesterday,” the Evening News reported Aug. 2, 1937.

“Thousands of Lithuanians from Northeastern Pennsylvania will attend the 24th annual Lithuanian Day at Sans Souci Park on Labor Day,” the Times Leader reported Sept. 3, 1937.

Sans Souci Park flourished until its closure in 1970.

Following the Agnes flood of 1972, the abandoned park became a dumping ground of flood debris, with plans to expand to a fully operational landfill.

“Luzerne County is seeking someone to operate a landfill site near Sans Souci Park in Hanover Township,” reported the Times Leader on Dec. 13, 1972.

Fortunately, a landfill never materialized at the site.

As school districts merged, so did Hanover Township becoming the Hanover Area School District constructing a high school that opened in 1978.

Look Back: Early beginnings of Sans Souci Park