Pier amusements started in 19th century England. Those were times of middle class explosion, when more and more people had enough money they could use for things outside the daily necessities. At the same time, the railways were just getting popular, so those newly moneyed people could go places and have fun. Seaside tourism was a new thing, being both healthy and pleasant.

So there were lots of people coming to the seaside, willing to have fun, but the sea was still not quite welcoming. It had those annoying tides, with the water being here one moment and there the next. You'd be walking down the beach and then the sea would either move away or come up soaking your clothes. Especially on the English coast, you could have large mudflats, where the sea never comes very close, even at high tide. Thus, somebody thought about those handy boardwalks, the piers, which were convenient to keep your feet dry, and if you made them long enough, you could walk up and down and reach the sea anytimes.

The first of those amusement piers was built on a small ( but very popular with tourists) island just off the coast of England. This was the Ryde Pier on the Isle of White. It was 2234 ft long (681m ). Before the pier was build, the toursits had to walk all that distance, over unpleasantly wet sand, before reaching the sea at all. With the pier, the walk became fun. And the townsfolk, being quite savvy, started adding things to the pier, with which to both entertain the tourists and take their money. First there was a railway, then a concert pavillion. And the idea simply took off. Piers became amusement spots. Tourists were flocking to the piers, so the merchants started putting their places of trade where the people were - on the pier, where every tourist eventually ended up during their holiday. Shops appeared, and further entertainment popped up as well, including rides. And since everything is bigger and better in America, you got bigger rides. Simple as that.

You should check out John Kasson's Amusing the Million. His basic argument is that amusement parks were a place where both the Gentry and the working class were equal. The rides, the beach, and the games allowed social groups, as well as men and women, to interact with each other in ways that would not be possible in regular society. Plus, it is a quick read with lots of fun pictures.

these sorts of Piers were very popular all over Northern Europe aswell. with the introduction of railway networks, cheap mass tourism was available, and so many people went to the nearest seaside. promenades where built to allow people to walk along and view the sea without actually being on the beach, with piers allowing people to walk out to look over sea itself, especially in areas with high tides, that often left miles of muddy beach exposed. so when amusement parks first developed in the turn of the century, it stands to reason that they would in areas that had high tourism/potential visitors. Blackpool Pleasure beach in the north of england began in the mid 1890's at the end of the tramline that runs along the prom there, similar to how Coney island really started developing when the subway reached there.