In July 1910, the Akron Beacon Journal ran an article under the sensational headline “Starts a Row; Shows Weapon.” The story opened with the account of a “colored damsel,” Retchel Park, who caused a commotion at the train station at Silver Lake Park, an amusement park on Silver Lake between Cuyahoga Falls and Stow, Ohio. […]
Summit Beach Park was an amusement park and recreation area on Summit Lake in Akron. Through the 1940s patrons could ride the South Main streetcar to Miller Avenue and then take a free bus the remaining distance west to the park. The Call & Post reported on various orchestras that performed at Summit Beach Park […]
East 9th Street Pier has long been a center for pleasure, initially as the principal Cleveland dock for passenger ships that plied Lake Erie. Later, during the 1960s, the Pier became home to a popular local restaurant, Captain Frank’s. Today, it is home to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Goodtime III […]
Luna Park was an amusement park on Cleveland’s East Side constructed by Ingersoll Construction Co. of Pittsburgh and created by Fred Ingersoll. The park occupied a 35-acre triangular site which was located at Woodhill Road and Woodland Avenue. The architectural style of the park was a combination of Egyptian, Gothic, Italian Renaissance and Japanese. Construction […]
Brady Lake was an amusement park and leisure destination along Brady Lake between Kent and Ravenna, Ohio. It opened in 1898 and was regionally popular into the mid-20th century. Brady Lake attracted African American leisure-seekers in the interwar years. An article in 1935 about a jazz concert noted that Brady Lake “will be turned over […]
Crystal Beach was a lakeside amusement park that operated in Vermilion, Ohio, from 1907 to 1962. The earliest mention of Black visitors was that of the Union Sunday School picnic in 1908. In 1932, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the Cuyahoga County Lodge of Colored Elks held its annual picnic at Crystal Beach, suggested […]
Euclid Beach Park, located in Cleveland’s North Collinwood neighborhood along Lake Erie, was the city’s best-known amusement park for about seven decades. Throughout its history, Euclid Beach was also the site of many confrontations over its policy of racial segregation. Euclid Beach was segregated starting in 1895, its first season, denying African Americans use of […]
Geauga Lake Park was a picnic ground, recreational area, and amusement park located 18 miles southeast of Cleveland on Geauga Lake (previously known as Picnic Lake and Giles Pond) along the border of Bainbridge Township in Geauga County and Aurora in Portage County, where it operated from 1887 to 2007. The earliest mention of African […]
Puritas Springs Park was an amusement park located on Puritas Avenue on Cleveland’s west side from 1898 to 1958. For some period of time it was a destination for Black patrons, although their experience there is not well-documented. A 1919 Cleveland Plain Dealer article reported that about 15,000 people would gather at Puritas for an […]