Download or read book LeSourdsville Lake and Americana Amusement Park written by Scott E. Fowler and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2022-06-13 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For over 75 years, generations of children and their parents called LeSourdsville Lake and Americana Amusement Park their home for the summer. Despite the popularity of Kings Island, one of the largest amusement parks in the country located only about 20 miles away, LeSourdsville Lake thrived because of its family atmosphere, the tradition of receiving a great value for the money, and the attention paid to detail by the management. The park featured the legendary Screechin' Eagle roller coaster, rated one of the top 25 wooden coasters in the country by coaster enthusiasts. It was also home to the country's wettest log flume, where riders were guaranteed to get soaked. Although the park closed permanently in 2002, the area is being transformed into one of the largest recreational parks in the area and will feature an amphitheater, children's play area, walking trails, and a portion of the nation's largest paved trail network. Scott E. Fowler is a retired Ohio law enforcement officer who developed a passion for local history before his 36-year career began. He has written three previous books for Arcadia, including Images of America: LeSourdsville Lake and Images of Modern America: Fantasy Farm Amusement Park. He is a former curator of the Monroe Historical Society and a former board member for the Citizens for Historic and Preservation and Services (CHAPS) in Hamilton and the Fairfield Historical Society, all located in Ohio.
Download or read book LeSourdsville Lake Amusement Park written by Scott E. Fowler and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2011-05 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: LeSourdsville Lake, also known as Americana Amusement Park by a generation of visitors, was a popular recreational park for many decades despite being located within 15 miles of Kings Island, one of the premier theme parks in the country. Emphasis on providing quality food and personalized catering enabled the park to host hundreds of annual company picnics, high school proms, and family reunions. The park's success was maintained by featuring such classic rides as the Electric Rainbow and the Whip and the Screechin' Eagle and Serpent roller coasters, while the Stardust Gardens provided quality entertainment ranging from the best of the big bands to the greatest music and television stars of the 1960s. Families visited "the Lake" as religiously as they drove the same route to work every day.
Download or read book The American Amusement Park written by Dale Samuelson and published by Motorbooks International. This book was released on 2001 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A photographic retrospective covers more than 100 years of images from the history of the American amusement park.
Download or read book Abandoned Amusement Parks written by Dinah Williams and published by Bearport Publishing. This book was released on 2013-08-01 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is something both sad and creepy about an abandoned amusement park. Perhaps it’s because a place that was once packed with fun seekers has become slowly choked with weeds. Or maybe it’s because the sound of kids’ excited laughter has been replaced with the quiet creaking of rusted rides. When the only visitors are the spirits of those who died there long ago, an amusement park can be a scary place to visit. Among the 11 amusement parks in this book, children will discover a roller coaster left to rot after nearly killing its passengers, a theme park that is now home to alligators and snakes, and the ghost of a man who is still trying to take a ride on a Ferris wheel that stopped working years ago. The haunting photographs and chilling nonfiction text will keep children turning the pages to discover more spooky stories.
Download or read book Geauga Lake written by Jim Futrell and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2015-06-01 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1968, three businessmen left their jobs at Cedar Point in Sandusky to purchase Geauga Lake Amusement Park. Geauga Lake had been a summertime escape since the 1870s, but by the 1960s it had fallen on hard times. The businessmen's company, Funtime, Inc., transformed the aging facility into a modern amusement park and established a reputation as an innovative operator in one of the nation's most competitive amusement park markets. Geauga Lake became the first park with two looping roller coasters and the first to integrate a full-scale water park, Boardwalk Shores. The company broke even more new ground in 1988 when it resurrected a classic roller coaster design to construct Raging Wolf Bobs. Images of America: Geauga Lake: The Funtime Years 1969-1995 captures the park's transformation and some of the countless memories that resulted from Funtime's 26-year ownership.
Download or read book Fantasy Farm Amusement Park written by Scott E. Fowler and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2014-07-14 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Not many developers would build an amusement park next door to the successful LeSourdsville Lake amusement park, but Edgar Streifthau was a one-of-a-kind man in Butler County, Ohio. Streifthau, the original owner of LeSourdsville, was forced to sell his beloved park, but he still had the amusement-park bug, and in 1963 he built Fantasy Farm directly next to LeSourdsville. Fantasy Farms audience was young children, and the concept was successful for decades. The two parks coexisted for 28 years despite periodically appearing in court opposite each other. In 1982, Streifthau sold Fantasy Farm to local carnival owner William Johnson, who ran the park for another decade before finally becoming a victim of the economy. Johnson closed Fantasy Farm in 1991 and sold off all of its assets.
Download or read book Ohio s Amusement Parks in Vintage Postcards written by David W. Francis and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2002 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By 1912, there were 54 amusement parks in Ohio. The parks came in all sizes, and featured such attractions as the Flying Ponies carousel, the Chute-the-Chutes water ride, and the Cyclone, Racer, and Dip-the-Dips roller coasters. Some, like Cleveland's White City, seemed to be courted by bad luck from the beginning, and folded after only a few disappointing seasons. Others, like Youngstown's Idora Park, enjoyed long lives and fostered beloved memories, but eventually closed down in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. A few, like Sandusky's Cedar Point, have grown to be considered among the greatest amusement parks in the world. But most are now forgotten.
Download or read book Amusement Parks written by Jim Hillman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-05-10 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Jones's Woods, America's first amusement resort, to Coney Island during the golden age of the mid-1900s, and well beyond into the twenty-first century, the thrills of the amusement park have been a treasured part of childhood for Americans from coast to coast. Though many of the country's grand amusement treasures have now vanished, and many other parks are struggling for survival, their memory and legacy are very much alive: there will be a fascination with these American classics as long as the clatter of the old coaster cars and the thumping of the carousel band organ remains. Through thoroughly researched text and historic images, Amusement Parks author and park enthusiast Jim Hillman captures the sights, smells, and continuing vitality of a grand American tradition.
Download or read book Cleveland Amusement Park Memories written by David W. Francis and published by Gray Publishers. This book was released on 2004 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Northeast Ohioans who grew up visiting amusement parks in the 1940s through 1970s will cherish the memories and memorabilia captured in this vivid, nostalgic portrait of days gone by. Includes: Euclid Beach Park, Luna Park, Geauga Lake Park, Puritas Springs Park, White City, Memphis Kiddie Park, Geneva-on-the-Lake, and others.
Download or read book Cincinnati Magazine written by and published by . This book was released on 1983-07 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cincinnati Magazine taps into the DNA of the city, exploring shopping, dining, living, and culture and giving readers a ringside seat on the issues shaping the region.
Download or read book Lake Quinsigamond and White City Amusement Park written by Michael P. Perna and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2004 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the 1800s and well into the 1900s, the area around Lake Quinsigamond, in Shrewsbury and Worcester, was one huge summer resort. Hotels, ethnic and social clubs, boat clubs, a horse racing track, picnic grounds, and two amusement parks, Lincoln Park and White City Park, lined the shore. Steamboats and smaller steam launches transported tourists to the area. Canoes, rowboats, sailboats, and motorboats crowded the lake on weekends. Crew boat regattas, which started in the 1850s, continue to this day. Lake Quinsigamond and White City Amusement Park lets readers experience the attractions, such as the shoot the chutes and White City roller coaster, and enjoy the fun atmosphere during those long-ago summers.
Download or read book Middletown Pacemakers written by Ron Roberson and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2002-06-05 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hot Rodding began in Southern California in the 1930s and had spread throughout the United States by the mid 1950s, spawning the sport of drag racing and the advent of the Detroit "muscle cars" of the '60s and '70s. Hot Rod Magazine and the National Hot Rod Association promoted the formation of responsible car clubs to combat the delinquent reputation of hot rodders, earned through illegal street races and Hollywood's portrayal in "B" movies. And thus were born the Middletown Pacemakers in 1951. The Pacemakers brought southern Ohio its first reliability runs (1952), custom auto shows (1954), and drag racing competitions-setting national records (1958, '63, '64) and winning national championships (1963, '64, '65). When the hot rodders were not busy upgrading their drive train for more horsepower or "chopping" and "channeling" for improved performance, they could often be seen on the streets of Middletown feeding expired parking meters or rescuing motorists whose cars had broken down or run out of gas. By 1966, as was the fate of so many hot rod clubs, the mass production of Detroit muscle cars ushered the Pacemakers to fold.
Download or read book Abandoned written by Seph Lawless and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-10-10 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Huffington Post called him “a master of the abandoned”—and for good reason. The “artivist” known only as Seph Lawless has spent the last ten years photo-documenting the America that was left behind in the throes of economic instability and overall decline—decrepit shopping malls, houses, factories, even amusement parks. Through nearly two hundred gorgeous and elegiac photographs, Abandoned details Lawless’s journey into what was once the very heart of American entertainment: the amusement park. Lawless visits deserted parks across the country, capturing in stark detail their dilapidated state, natural overgrowth, and obvious duality of sad and playful symbolism. Previously self-published as Bizarro, this updated edition of Lawless’s photographic tribute to decaying American amusement parks contains new content and a new foreword. For the first time, the famed photojournalist Seph Lawless makes his moving work available in a stunning trade edition.
Download or read book Lost Treasures of Cincinnati written by Amy E. Brownlee and published by Reedy Press LLC. This book was released on 2022-10-01 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lost Treasures of Cincinnati traverses the Queen City’s cultural and physical history, from museums to movie palaces, basketball teams to tea rooms, subways to supper clubs—from what always was to what might have been. A collection of archival photographs, artifacts, and anecdotes, Lost Treasures captures the stories and details of dearly departed local buildings, institutions, events, and attractions. Look for crosstown favorites like Cincinnati Gardens, the 50/50 Club, Tall Stacks, and Crosley Field—places and performances that brought Cincinnati together to spectate and celebrate. Explore destination shopping in downtown Cincinnati at long-shuttered department stores like Gidding-Jenny and Pogue’s. And take in a show at the RKO Albee Theater. Menus and photos recall restaurants and eateries like the Virginia Bakery, Gourmet Room, and the Chili Company. And Lost Treasures looks back to unearth long-lost settings and hidden gems like The Highland House, Mrs. Trollope’s Bazaar, Kenner Toys, and an indoor ice rink at the Netherland Plaza Hotel. These items are more than the sum of their parts: Taken together, they represent a spectrum of experience in our recent and distant past that rings true for Cincinnatians young and old.
Download or read book The Incredible Scream Machine written by Robert Cartmell and published by Popular Press. This book was released on 1987 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1984 America celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of the first successful roller coaster device: La Marcus A. Thompson’s switchback railway, erected at Coney Island. Robert Cartmell examines every phase of roller coaster history, from the use of the roller coaster by Albert Einstein to demonstrate his theory of physics, to John Allen’s use of psychology in designing one.
Download or read book Western New York Amusement Parks written by Rose Ann Hirsch and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2011-04-25 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Fantasy Island to Darien Lake, Western New York's 100 year amuseument park history is documented in this fast-paced photographic tale. For more than 100 years, western New Yorkers have enjoyed the region's exciting amusement parks. During the days of trolleys and steamships, area businessmen created Celoron Park, Crystal Beach Park, and other fine local summer resorts. Decades later, lifelong memories were formed for neighborhood baby boomers who visited Glen Park and Fantasy Island, as well as one of New York State's finest theme parks, Darien Lake. Western New York has always been a proving ground for some of the nation's most famous roller coasters. The terrifying Cyclone, the fast and furious Silver Comet, and the extreme Ride of Steel have attracted the very bravest of visitors. In the new millennium, the summer tradition of visiting local amusement parks continues with a blend of family-orientated parks and theme parks that appeal to all ages.
Download or read book Silver Lake Park written by Mary L. McClure and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2014-04-07 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From modest beginnings as a local swimming and fishing spot, Silver Lake Park, established by Ralph H. Lodge in the 1870s, quickly grew to become one of northeast Ohios most popular amusement parks. Thanks to its many exciting offerings, which included two roller coasters, a miniature railway, a merry-go-round, a dance pavilion, water toboggans, steamboat rides, live animal exhibits, and many other unique features, the park attracted up to 10,000 to 20,000 visitors a day from across Ohio and surrounding states. Always anxious to add new and thrilling attractions to the park, the Lodge family also introduced features described as the first public aquarium in the state of Ohio and the first aviation field in Summit County. In later years, the park added a popular Chautauqua, bringing the leading musical acts, entertainers, and orators of the day to the community.
