Euclid Beach Park

Last updated
Euclid Beach Park
Euclidbeach.jpg
Euclid Beach post card, circa 1915, featuring the roller coaster Derby Racer (later renamed the Racing Coaster)
Location Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Coordinates 41°34′48″N81°34′12″W / 41.580°N 81.570°W / 41.580; -81.570
StatusDefunct
Opened1895 (1895)
ClosedSeptember 28, 1969 (1969-09-28)
General managerJonson McBronson

Euclid Beach Park was an amusement park located on the southern shore of Lake Erie in the Collinwood neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, which operated from 1895 to 1969.

Contents

Originally incorporated by investors from Cleveland and patterned after New York's Coney Island, the park was managed by William R. Ryan Sr., who ran the park with featured attractions including vaudeville acts, concerts, gambling, a beer garden, and sideshows as well as a few early amusement rides. [1] In 1899, Lee Holtzman became Euclid Beach's new manager. Later that same year, as reported in a Cleveland newspaper, Euclid Beach Park had failed. Former management was faced with the loss of more than half their investment if they sold the land for building development. It was established that the original Euclid Beach Park Company was losing $20,000 a season.

Dudley S. Humphrey Jr. led six members of his family in undertaking management of the park as of 1901. They had previously operated concessions at the park but had been unhappy with the way Ryan ran it. Humphrey and family leased the park for five years at $12,000 a year. [1] They expanded the beach and bathing facilities, including adding a lakeside swing and many new attractions. They advertised with the slogan, "one fare, free gate and no beer". [2]

Designed to be a family-friendly park, the Humphreys would not admit anyone who had consumed intoxicating beverages at a bar directly across the street from the entrance to the park. [1] Signs throughout the park instructed that only children were permitted to wear shorts, because the Humphreys thought that proper dress would promote a family-friendly atmosphere. [1] At one point, the park advertised that it would "present nothing that would demoralize or depress," and that visitors would "never be exposed to undesirable people", [3] in which they included African Americans. [2] In August 1910, the park was the site of an exhibition flight by aviator Glenn Curtiss from Euclid Beach to Cedar Point and back.

Rides and attractions

Euclid Beach Park was built abutting a beach on Lake Erie, which was part of the attraction, and, for a time, a principal part of the Park's attraction. An early addition to the park was its dance hall. After the Humphreys acquired the park, many more attractions were made part of Euclid Beach.

Euclid Beach and the bath house, circa 1905 Euclid Beach.jpg
Euclid Beach and the bath house, circa 1905

The first carousel to be installed at Euclid Beach Park was the Philadelphia Toboggan Company Carousel Number 9 design. It debuted in 1905. In 1910, it was replaced by Philadelphia Toboggan Company Carousel Number 19, which had 58 horses and two chariots, decorated with leaf carvings surrounding a Greek god and two cherubs. The chariots retained these classic designs when the carousel's other decorations were replaced with ones having an art deco motif.

After Euclid Beach Park ceased operation, this carousel was sold and moved to Palace Playland in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, where it operated until 1996. In 1997, the Euclid Beach Park Nuts (later known as Euclid Beach Park Now) and the Trust for Public Land partnered to acquire the carousel and bring it back to Cleveland. On June 30, 2010, the Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS), which owns the carousel horses, chariots, and mechanism, announced a collaboration with Cleveland's Euclid Beach Park Carousel Society and Euclid Beach Park Now to restore, reassemble, and operate the carousel at the Historical Society's location in University Circle. [4] The plan envisioned a $6 million fundraising campaign to pay for the project, including the construction of a pavilion to house the restored ride, and provide an endowment to ensure its operation into the future.

Since that time, the Euclid Beach Carousel Society entered into a contract with a firm which designs and builds new wooden carousels as well as restores old carousels. The Carousel Works of Mansfield, Ohio was given the task of coming as close as possible to restoring the ride to its original appearance and function, [5] a process which was found to essentially require the remanufacturing of the ride because of damage said to have occurred during the transport of the components from Maine back to Cleveland. [6] On Tuesday, April 17, 2012, the WRHS broke ground for the construction of a glass pavilion to house the restored and reassembled carousel. [7] The carousel reopened to the public on November 23, 2014. [8]

Roller coasters

A picture of Euclid Beach Park taken some time between 1895 and 1910 Euclid Beach Park Causeway.jpg
A picture of Euclid Beach Park taken some time between 1895 and 1910

Seven roller coasters operated at Euclid Beach over the years. All were wood coasters. The first roller coaster, the Switchback Railway, debuted in 1896 and closed in 1904. It was built by LaMarcus A. Thompson.

The next roller coaster was the Figure Eight (1904—1909), designed by Henry B. Auchy and built by Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters). Following that was the Scenic Railway (1907—1937), the second coaster to be built by Thompson.

In 1909, John A. Miller premiered his first coaster at the park, the New Velvet Coaster (later renamed Aero Dips), which operated until 1965. He also designed the Derby Racer, later renamed Racing Coaster. It was built by Frederick Ingersoll. Debuting in 1913 to much fanfare, it was featured in a Plain Dealer advertisement published on May 30, 1913, and survived until the close of the park in 1969. Racing Coaster only featured one track which formed a Möbius loop, where both coaster trains would begin on one side of the station and return on the opposite side.

The Thriller was designed by Herbert Paul Schmeck and Howard Stoneback. Also built by Philadelphia Toboggan Company, the ride premiered in 1924 and survived until the park's closure. The Thriller featured an "out and back" track design and cost $90,000 to build.

The Flying Turns

The Flying Turns was the name of a roller coaster at Euclid Beach Park, but it was also the name for a type of roller coaster. John Norman Bartlett, a British aviator in World War I, came to North America after the war with an idea for a trackless wooden chute, full of twists like a bobsled course, with toboggan-like cars. He filed a patent for the idea in 1926.

Bartlett met John Miller in 1928, and they commenced building the new ride. When the ride went into production, much of the idea was the same, but the cars looked more like monoplanes, which Bartlett designed. Miller worked on the loading station, supporting structure, braking system and incline.

The first Flying Turns ride was built and operated at Lakeside Park in Dayton, Ohio. The Flying Turns at Euclid Beach Park was the second to be built. A half-dozen more would be built, including one at Coney Island. The one at Euclid Beach was the tallest of them and used three-car trains. Couples enjoyed the ride because one rider could sit in the other's lap. "At Euclid Beach on the Flying Turns I'll bet you can't keep her smilin'" is a line from the Beach Boys' song "Amusement Parks U.S.A." (from their 1965 album Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!) ).

Riot

By around 1915, Euclid Beach Park would only admit African Americans on certain days as part of its efforts to promote what its management saw as a family-friendly atmosphere. On the other days, the park's special police enforcement team oversaw exclusion of blacks. On the days when blacks were allowed into the park, they were not permitted to interact with white park-goers. [2]

A series of protests occurred at Euclid Beach Park in 1946. On July 21, 1946, 20 people from American Youth for Democracy, United Negroes and Allied Veterans of America, and the National Negro Congress visited the park as an interracial group. They were evicted after a park policeman told them that it was park policy that there be "no sitting, no talking, no mixing of any kind... between the races." [2] Subsequently, Euclid Beach Park was picketed on several occasions by these and other organizations. [2]

On August 23, 1946, twelve members of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), another interracial group, attempted to visit the park, but they were also ejected by park police. Albert T. Luster, an African-American man who had gone to the park to meet the CORE group but never actually met with its members, was later beaten by a park policeman. [2] CORE continued to fight the segregation policy. A six-member interracial group from CORE visited the park on September 21, 1946, and were again removed from the park by the park police. However, on this occasion two off-duty Cleveland policemen, Lynn Coleman and Henry MacKey, both African-American, intervened, resulting in a fight between the city police and the park police. In the scuffle, Coleman was shot in the leg with his own gun. After this incident, the park closed a week early, per the mayor's request. [2]

Decline, closure, and legacy

Euclid Beach Park Gateway Arch Euclid Beach Arch.jpg
Euclid Beach Park Gateway Arch

By the 1960s, Euclid Beach was beginning to face financial problems. In 1965, the park took two drastic measures in order to stay open. The Aero Dips roller coaster, which was the oldest in the park, was demolished. The Great American Racing Derby was also sold to Cedar Point that year. These actions were not enough to keep the park afloat. Euclid Beach Park closed forever in September 1969, after the summer season. It was one of many aging parks from another era which closed during the 1960s. Forest Park Highlands in St. Louis burned down in 1963 never to be rebuilt, New Jersey's Olympic Park closed in 1965. Riverview Park of Illinois shut down in 1967 due largely to operating and maintenance costs. [9]

Some rides or other attractions were placed in operation at other locations. Many of the Kiddy Rides, such as the Euclid Beach Chief, were sent to Shady Lake Park in Streetsboro, Ohio. [10]

Many structures still standing on the Euclid Beach site after its closing, including the famous dance hall, were destroyed in a series of arson fires.[ citation needed ] The suspects were never apprehended. By 1986, most of the park was gone, though some remnants of the park are still visible to this day. [12] The original shoreline walkway is still at the beach, the concrete pier which was made with a patented Humphrey concrete-pouring process is also standing at its original location and a number of other artifacts can still be seen there. [13] [14] This process was also used in constructing the trailer park wall, which is still standing. The wall runs along Lakeshore Boulevard.

A few original guy-wire remnants attached to the sycamore trees remain along with the loading platform for the Antique Cars, the anchor post for the Thriller coaster, and part of the path to the Flying Turns platform. The bridge for the Turnpike Cars still stands across the driveway for one of the apartment buildings built on the former west end of the Park and the remains of the supports for the Turnpike Cars center directional rail which was used on the track to keep the turnpike cars from going off of the track are also still visible.

Next to the pier, of which the concrete portion is largely intact, sits an empty, circular cement pool which was once a ride. Beach-goers could sit in suspended swing seats, and be taken for rides around the 2-foot-deep (0.61 m) pool via a motor in the pool's center. Later, the swing seat apparatus was removed, and a center fountain was put in its place. The pool is now filled in with dirt and grass. Plans are to rebuild the Pier.

Perhaps the most famous of the remnants of Euclid Beach Park is the arched main gate. This archway has been declared a Cleveland landmark, and is now protected from demolition. The arch was severely damaged by a hit-and-run driver in January 2007. [15] On June 12, 2007, the rebuilt Arch was rededicated.

Today, the former entrance road into the park is E 159th St. The portion of the site not included in the State Park is occupied by a trailer park, and the owners of the trailer park demolished the Humphrey Mansion in 2005. [16]

The Humphrey Company [17] continues to sell the popcorn and taffy products made famous during the heyday of the park.

The 2007 documentary Welcome Back Riders on YouTube featured Euclid Beach.

The 1960s TV series Route 66 used Euclid Beach Park as a filming location for the 1962 episode "Two on the House," in which a 12-year-old boy who yearns to be with his workaholic development-engineer father spends a day alone in the park.

In 1929 Nathan Weber accepted an internship working for Soeder's Dairy at their Euclid Beach Fresh Ice Cream (later called Dairy Whip) [18] concession. He liked it. His family got permission, from Soeder's, to open a "stand" as long as certain criteria were met. In 1931, Weber's [19] opened on Hilliard Rd. in Rocky River adding 5 new flavors to the original Vanilla. Two of those criteria were that, "...the product never be cheapened and be made on the same machines." The ice cream served by Weber's today is manufactured using the machines built in 1931 on special order for the Weber family. [20]

Related Research Articles

Cedar Point is a 364-acre (147 ha) amusement park located on a Lake Erie peninsula in Sandusky, Ohio, United States, owned and operated by Six Flags. It opened in 1870 and is considered the second-oldest operating amusement park in the US behind Lake Compounce. Prior to the merger with Six Flags in 2024, Cedar Point served as the "flagship park" of the Cedar Fair amusement park chain and hosted the corporate headquarters. Known as "America's Roller Coast", the park features 17 roller coasters, which ranks third among amusement parks in North America behind sister parks Canada's Wonderland (18) and Six Flags Magic Mountain (20).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hersheypark</span> Theme park in Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States

Hersheypark is a family theme park in the eastern United States in Hershey, Pennsylvania, about fifteen miles (25 km) east of Harrisburg, and 95 miles (155 km) west of Philadelphia. The park was founded in 1906, by Milton S. Hershey as a leisure park for the employees of the Hershey Chocolate Company. It is wholly and privately owned by Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company. Hersheypark has won several awards, including the Applause Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geauga Lake</span> Defunct amusement park in Ohio

Geauga Lake was an amusement park in Bainbridge Township and Aurora, Ohio. It was established in 1887, in what had been a local recreation area adjacent to a lake of the same name. The first amusement ride was added in 1889, and the park's first roller coaster – the Big Dipper – was built in 1925. The park was sold to Funtime, Inc., in 1969 and was expanded over the years with additional rides and amenities. Funtime was acquired by Premier Parks in 1995, and for the 2000 season, they re-branded Geauga Lake as Six Flags Ohio, adding four new roller coasters. The following year, Six Flags bought the adjacent SeaWorld Ohio and combined the two parks under the name Six Flags Worlds of Adventure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knoebels Amusement Resort</span> Amusement park

Knoebels Amusement Resort is a family-owned and operated amusement park, picnic grove, and campground in Elysburg, Pennsylvania. Opened in 1926, it is the United States's largest free-admission park. The park has more than 60 rides including three wooden roller coasters, three steel roller coasters, a 1913 carousel, and two haunted house dark rides.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters</span> Roller coaster manufacturer

Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (PTC) is one of the oldest existing roller coaster manufacturing companies in the world. Based in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, it was established in 1904 by Henry B. Auchy and Chester Albright under the name Philadelphia Toboggan Company. The company manufactured carousels, wooden roller coasters, toboggans and later, roller coaster trains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Playland (New York)</span> Historic amusement park in New York

Playland, often called Rye Playland and also known as Playland Amusement Park, is an amusement park located in Rye, New York, along the Long Island Sound. Built in 1928, the 280-acre (110 ha) park is owned by the Westchester County government. Beginning in 2018 the park has been operated under contract by Standard Amusements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seabreeze Amusement Park</span> Amusement park in Irondequoit, New York, US

Seabreeze Amusement Park (Seabreeze) is a historic family amusement park located in Irondequoit, New York, a suburb of Rochester, where Irondequoit Bay meets Lake Ontario. According to the National Amusement Park Historical Association (NAPHA), Seabreeze is the fourth-oldest operating amusement park in the United States and the thirteenth-oldest operating amusement park in the world, having opened in 1879. The park features roller coasters, a variety of other rides, a midway, and a water park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laffing Sal</span> Animatronic

Laffing Sal is one of several animatronic characters that were built primarily to attract carnival and amusement park patrons to funhouses and dark rides throughout the United States. Its movements were accompanied by a raucous laugh that sometimes frightened small children and annoyed adults.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Excelsior Amusement Park</span>

Excelsior Amusement Park was an amusement park on Lake Minnetonka in the town of Excelsior, Minnesota, United States. The park, which operated from 1925 to 1973, was a popular destination for company picnics and day trips from the Twin Cities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom</span> Amusement park in Pennsylvania

Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom is an amusement and water park located in Dorneyville, Pennsylvania, United States, outside Allentown. Owned and operated by Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, the park features 64 rides, including eight roller coasters, several thrill rides and kiddie rides, and a waterpark, Wildwater Kingdom, with 19 water rides.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Playland (San Francisco)</span> Amusement park in California, 1921 to 1972

Playland was a 10-acre (40,000-square-meter) seaside amusement park located next to Ocean Beach, in the Richmond District at the western edge of San Francisco, California, along Great Highway, bounded by Balboa and Fulton streets. It began as a collection of amusement rides and concessions in the late 19th century, and was preceded by Chutes at the Beach, opened in 1921. Playland closed Labor Day weekend in 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">D. H. Morgan Manufacturing</span> Amusement attraction manufacturer

D. H. Morgan Manufacturing, later simply known as Morgan, was a manufacturer of roller coaster trains, custom amusement rides, roller coasters, children's rides and other amusement devices. Founded in 1983, the company was originally headquartered in Scotts Valley, California. In 1991, the company moved to La Selva Beach, California, and into a new 55,000-square-foot indoor manufacturing facility. That facility was later increased to 75,000 square feet. The company produced a variety of rides from 1983 until 2001, but is probably best known for its steel hyper coasters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chance Rides</span> Ride manufacturer

Chance Rides is a roller coaster and amusement ride manufacturer. Originally founded in 1961, the current company was formed on May 16, 2002, when the former Chance Industries Inc. emerged from bankruptcy. The main office and manufacturing facility are located in Wichita, Kansas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chippewa Lake Park</span> Former American amusement park

Chippewa Lake Park is an abandoned amusement park located in Chippewa Lake, Ohio, Medina County. It operated from 1878 through 1978, after the final owner, Continental Business Enterprises closed it due to a lack of attendance. The rides and structures were left largely untouched and unmaintained for over 45 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miracle Strip Amusement Park</span> Former American amusement park

Miracle Strip Amusement Park was a theme park located in Panama City Beach, Florida, which operated from 1963 to 2004. The highlight of the park was The Starliner Roller Coaster, an "out-and-back" wooden coaster designed by John Allen upon the park's initial conception. A few other rides lay near the Starliner and a small arcade center and food stands rounded out the fledgling park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paragon Park</span> Former amusement park in Hull, Massachusetts, United States

Paragon Park was an amusement park located on Nantasket Beach in Hull, Massachusetts. It closed in 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Williams Grove Amusement Park</span> Abandoned amusement park near Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, United States

Williams Grove Amusement Park is an abandoned amusement park in Williams Grove, Pennsylvania. The park operated from 1850 until 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animal theme park</span> Combination of a theme park and a zoo

An animal theme park, also known as a zoological theme park, is a combination of an amusement park and a zoo, mainly for entertainment, amusement, and commercial purposes. Many animal theme parks combine classic theme park elements, such as themed entertainment and amusement rides, with classic zoo elements such as live animals confined within enclosures for display. Many times, live animals are utilized and featured as part of amusement rides and attractions found at animal theme parks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toboggan (roller coaster)</span> Roller coaster model

Toboggan is a portable roller coaster that was built by Chance Industries from 1969 to the mid-1970s. The coaster features a small vehicle, holding two people, that climbs vertically inside a hollow steel tower then spirals back down around the same tower. There is a small section of track at the base of the tower with a few small dips and two turns to bring the ride vehicle back to the station. Each vehicle has a single rubber tire with a hydraulic clutch braking system that governs the speed of the vehicle as it descends the tower. The rubber tire engages a center rail that begins halfway through the first spiral. The ride stands 45 feet tall with a track length of 450 feet. A typical ride lasts approximately 70 seconds.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Bush, Lee O.; Chukayne, Edward C.; Hehr, Russell Allon; Hershey, Richard F. (1977). "1, 2". EUCLID BEACH Park is closed for the season. Cleveland, Ohio: Dillon/Liederbach, Inc. Book Publishers. pp. 1–14, 21, 33, 54. ISBN   0-913228-22-2.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Van Tassel, David D. and John J. Grabowski, eds. The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History 2nd ed. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1996.
  3. Francis, David & Diane. Cleveland Amusement Park Memories Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine , Gray and Company (2004).
  4. "Western Reserve Historical Society Collaborates on Rebuild of Historic Euclid Beach Carousel in its University Circle Complex" (PDF). clevelandcarousel.org (Press release). Western Reserve Historical Society. 30 June 2010. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  5. Theiss, Evelyn (4 July 2010). "The Euclid Beach carousel: Whatever happened to ...?". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved 5 August 2012 via blog.cleveland.com.
  6. Ewinger, James (April 25, 2013). "Euclid beach Carousel restoration a step closer with fund drive (gallery)". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland Live LLC. Retrieved 30 April 2013 via cleveland.com.
  7. Kaczynski, Dawn (18 April 2012). "Construction begins on Euclid Beach carousel restoration project". universitycircle.org. University Circle Inc. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  8. Webb, Craig (24 November 2014). "Euclid Beach's Grand Carousel still attracts a crowd". Akron Beacon Journal . Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  9. Riverview Park - Chicago, Illinois Archived 2012-06-17 at the Wayback Machine , accessed 21 May 2012
  10. Timeline - Euclid Beach (1978) Archived 2012-04-15 at the Wayback Machine , accessed 21 May 2012.
  11. "My Gal Sal Page 7".
  12. Illicit Ohio Euclid Beach Park page Archived 2008-12-21 at the Wayback Machine , accessed 15 March 2009.
  13. US Patent 1255750 Concrete Conveying and Mixing Machine, accessed 15 October 2010.
  14. Bush, Lee O., Edward C. Chukayne, Russell A. Hehr, and Richard F. Hershey. Euclid Beach Park Is Closed for the Season. Dillon/Liederbach, 1977. p. 36.
  15. Summers, Dave. "Euclid Beach Park arch damaged", WKYC. 2007-01-11.
  16. O'Mara, Michael. "Old Humphrey Mansion demolished", WKYC. 2005-09-15.
  17. The Humphrey Company, accessed 15 October 2010.
  18. Euclid Beach Fresh Ice Cream (later called Dairy Whip) Archived 2014-10-06 at the Wayback Machine , accessed 31 December 2014
  19. Weber's Premium Ice Cream & Custard, Inc., accessed 31 December 2014
  20. Original Vogt Machines Archived 2014-10-06 at the Wayback Machine , accessed 31 December 2014

Further reading

  1. Bush, Lee O., Edward C. Chukayne, Russell A. Hehr, and Richard F. Hershey. Euclid Beach Park Is Closed for the Season (1977). ISBN   978-0-913228-22-7
  2. Bush, Lee O., Edward C. Chukayne, Russell A. Hehr, and Richard F. Hershey. Euclid Beach Park, A Second Look (1979). ISBN   978-0-935408-01-0