Although there is evidence of carousels in America as far back as 1825, the modern day carousel started in the late 1800s, when a steam engine was added to the carousel. Gustav Dentzel, the father of the American carousel industry. Built his first carousel in 1867 in Philadelphia.

The growth of the carousel industry, however, did not occur until the advent of modern mass transit, "the trolley system." The trolley made it inexpensive and easy for people to get to amusement parks. As can be expected, the popularity of carousels grew as amusement parks began to spring up all across the country. In the 1880s, Charles I. D. Looff opened his shop in Brooklyn and installed one of his first carousels at the famous Coney Island Amusement Park.