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William Albert "Bill" Koch, Sr. developed what is today known as Holiday World and Splashin' Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana, the oldest and one of the best-known theme parks in the United States. A native of Evansville, Indiana, Koch was the son of Louis J. and Clarice Koch. He graduated from Purdue University in 1937 with a degree in architecture, but, although he worked in that field while in the Navy during World War II, it would be a project started by his father that would change his life. ==Holiday World== In the 1940s, Louis Koch retired, and decided he wanted to breathe life into the tiny town of Santa Claus. He started a mail-order gift shop, and, in 1946, a small theme park that he called Santa Claus Land. At first, Bill Koch didn't think much of his father's project. "I thought it was sort of a folly," he said later. "I didn't think it would go anywhere." In 1955, Ronald Reagan, then an actor and spokesman for General Electric, stopped for a visit. And the park steadily grew from there. In 1984, Koch and his family decided to include other holidays (namely Halloween and Fourth of July) in the park and the name was changed to Holiday World. In 1993, a water park - Splashin' Safari - was added, and a new Thanksgiving-themed area was also constructed in 2006. Over a million visitors a year now visit the park. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「William A. Koch」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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