Businessman. He was the architect of the Luna Park at Coney Island, the Hippodrome Theatre in Manhattan, and Toyland Park in San Francisco. After being trained as an architectural draftsman at his uncle's office and studying in Paris, he worked at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. In 1897 at the Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition, he received a prize of $2,500 for designing a building. He had launched himself with a career in the amusement business. He studied with the Art Students' League of New York from January of 1899 to October of 190O with many well-known artists. During the last years of the 19th century, he had works at various expositions that were well-received. Along the way, he had met a colleague, Elmer "Skip" Dundy, who would become his business partner. Thompson and Dundy leased Paul Boyton's Sea Lion Park on Coney Island , and with $700,000 in borrowed money, created their Luna Park. With the opening of Luna Park in May of 1903, these two men became the creator and owners of one of the earliest amusement parks in the world. Of this partnership, he had the artistic creativity side, whereas Dundy the financial side. He is given credit for designing his first amusement ride, called the "Giant See-Saw." In 1905 Thompson and Dundy built a huge indoor stadium in Manhattan called the Hippodrome. His first wife was Broadway and later silent film actress Mabel Taliaferro. The couple married in 1906 and had one child. With the goal to make his wife a star, he became her manager in several productions including the 1907 Broadway play "Polly of the Circus" and in 1909 he managed her, along with directing and producing the play "Springtime." He, and at times with Dundy, produced at least eleven Broadway plays. He was her manager in the 1911 silent film "Cinderella." In 1907 Dundy suddenly died leaving him to manage the vast investments, which had been managed mainly by Dundy. With his life style of gambling and partying, he did not excel as a manager of money. With his serious financial problems, he and his wife divorced in 1911. He had lost Luna Park to his creditors. By 1912 he had declared bankruptcy. He had managed to make and lost a fortune by age 39. At one time his assets were $1,500,000. In 1913 he married Selene Wheat Pilcher. Leaving the amusement park industry, he returned to working with various expositions. In 1915 at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, he introduced his last amusement park attraction, "The Grand Toyland", which was considered old-fashion as the people wanted to ride airplanes instead. He had hand-drawn every detail of this attraction and these drawings are archived at the University of California at Berkley. With his health declining from alcoholism and renal failure, he had a series of surgeries within four years, dying after the last surgery at the age of 45. He was buried next to his mother. Leaving a few hundred dollars in his estate, a headstone was not placed on his grave until 1922 and was purchased by his friends and colleagues. In the 21st century, no poetry or paintings of his are readily available.