Jody Victor : Chippewa Lake Park was an amusement park once located in Chippewa Lake, Ohio, Medina County. It operated from 1878 through 1978, after the final owner, Continental Business Enterprises closed it due to lack of attendance. After the park's closure, its rides and structures were left largely untouched and unmaintained for the next 31 years.

In 1875, Edward Andrews organized a picnic ground and beach under the name Andrew's Pleasure Grounds. The park operated with some success, but its condition deteriorated, partly accountable to alcohol sales within park grounds. With the addition of a steam boat and the park's first roller coaster, the amusement park was brought to life. The initial roller coaster had to be manually pushed up the track following each ride.

Mac Beach acquired Chippewa Lake in 1898 and improved the park immensely, beginning with a ban on liquor sales. Mac's son, Parker Beach, managed the park during its boom years, the roaring '20s. During that decade, the first modern coaster was built at the park, designed by Fred Pearce. Originally named the Big Dipper, it became better known as simply 'the coaster'. The park also featured a live band-stand seven nights a week.

The Beach family kept the park running successfully into the 1960s. Eventually Chippewa Lake would feature three roller coasters, flying cages, a Ferris wheel, carousel, Tumble Bug, ballroom and many other rides.

Chippewa Lake was acquired by Continental Business Enterprises in 1969, and closed in 1978 while under their ownership, owing to factors like competition from nearby Cedar Point and Geauga Lake amusement parks.

After the park's closure in 1978, the land the park was situated on was left largely untouched. By the 2000s, large trees were growing through rides like the Coaster and the park's Ferris wheel, and several buildings had collapsed or been damaged by the effects of the elements.

About 4:00 PM on Thursday, June13, 2002, the Chippewa Lake Park Ballroom burned down. By 2008, several other buildings had suffered the ballroom's fate, including the hotel, arcade, fun house, peanut stand, and maintenance building, all of which had been damaged or destroyed by fire. However, other rides and structures still stood, in various states of disrepair. These included the Big Dipper Coaster, the Wild Mouse coaster, the Little Dipper coaster, the Tumble Bug, and the frames of the Ferris Wheels and Flying Cages. Most other buildings across the park were in various states of collapse due to 30 years of neglect by this time.

In 2008, thirty years after the park's closure, the land the amusement park stood on was offered up for sale with an asking price of $3,500,000, and, according to the realtor's website, was sold. On September 9, 2008, Chippewa Partners LLC announced plans for a development on the site called "Chippewa Landing" which would include a hotel and spa, fitness center, restaurants, a conference and music center, small shops and other entertainment venues, expected to be completed sometime in 2010.

We could be looking forward to a another nice place to visit in Ohio!

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : Are you looking for somewhere to go before summer is gone? Try somewhere in Ohio! Indian Lake is a reservoir in Logan County in western Ohio in the United States. It is approximately 20 mi (32 km) southeast of Lima. It is fed by the north and south forks of the Upper Great Miami River, Cherokee Mans Run, Blackhawk Creek, and Van Horn Creek, and, starting at the bulkhead or "spillway" (located at what is now State Route 366) built in the 1850s by Irish laborers, is the beginning of the Great Miami River.

Indian Lake, so named because several tribes lived in the region and found the Lake area to be ideal for fishing and hunting, was originally a group of small lakes and wetlands occupying about 640 acres, but in the 1850s, it was turned into the 6,334 acre Lewistown Reservoir which sent water through the Sidney Feeder to the Miami and Erie Canal. Within a few years after its construction, the canal system became an obsolete form of transportation compared to the new and growing railways.

However, Indian Lake remained, found itself well serviced by the railways, and ever since has been enjoyed by many for rest and relaxation, fishing and boating now being the most common activities. In its early years, bass were the prize catch for fishermen, with bluegill and crappies being caught in great numbers. The Lake is stocked with fish including Saugeye, for which it has been nationally recognized. Several major fishing tournaments are held each year, with local bass clubs holding weekly contests. Generally these follow "catch and return" rules. Ice fishing and snowmobling have grown in popularity. Colorful snowmobiles gather, often in large numbers, outside the several lake-front restaurants as their owners stop for tea and coffee with their burgers and wings.

Indian Lake has numerous islands, including the "Indian Isles" chain that arcs through the center of the Lake, expansive wildlife areas accessible by a network of channels. numerous inlets and bays, and approximately 30 miles of shoreline. The actual lake, and adjoining Oldfield Beach (the end point of a several mile, lake-front biking/walking trail), Moundwood and Lakeview Harbor boat ramps, marinas at Moundwood and at Cherokee Campgrounds, and other Green Spaces including Pew Island, are extremely well managed by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources as part of the Ohio state park system. Popular state walking trails are located, in addition to the one ending at Oldfield Beach, at Pew Island and at the Cherokee Campgrounds.

A song by The Cowsills during the 1960s is claimed by Indian Lakers to be about their lake, but others contend it was actually about a lake by the same name in New York State. However, in the many years of The Cowsills being popular, they visited regularly and they (the Cowsills) say "the song is written about our favorite place.

The Lake calendar begins with Jimmy Buffett weekend on the first week of February, with the annual Boat Show the first weekend in March. An ever-growing fireworks display, part of July 4 observances, is witnessed by hundreds of boats as well as a crowds along the shores. The "Ring of Fire", on the Sunday evening of Labor Day weekend, by lore extends an Indian tradition in celebration of the harvest. Some event, whether a restored Chris Craft boat show, a fishing tournament, or charity "poker runs" around the Lake occurs on almost every summer weekend. Other lore includes an abandoned lead mine under the Lake, and use of the north side of the Lake and the dancehall by the Chicago mobsters in days gone by.

In its early days extending into the middle of the last century, the Lake was primarily a destination resort, with many waterfront cottages being lightly built primarily for summer use. Many knew of it as the location of the amusement park with its roller-coaster and other rides and it dancehall, discussed below. Today while still busiest in the summer, the Lake finds its shores dotted with many new beautiful, permanent homes; its older cottages have been delightfully remodeled.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : Lake Erie is one of the Great Lakes and currently serves as part of Ohio's northern boundary. During the 1700s and 1800s, Lake Erie provided a quick means of transportation for men engaged in the fur trade as well as settlers hoping to improve their fortunes in the Ohio Country. Its importance grew during the 1810s and the 1820s as Americans began to build canals. The completion of the Erie Canal, connecting the Hudson River in New York with Lake Erie, provided the first navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the upper Midwest. This allowed farmers in Ohio a relatively quick and inexpensive route to transport their products to market. Cleveland quickly grew and became one of the leading industrial centers of Ohio thanks to its location on Lake Erie.

During the War of 1812, both the English and the American armies and navies hoped to gain exclusive control over the lake. The side that controlled Lake Erie would have an easier time sending troops and supplies in an invasion of the other's territory. On September 10, 1813, at the Battle of Lake Erie an American fleet under the command of Oliver Hazard Perry defeated a British fleet, securing control of the lake for the United States. England's threat to the American Northwest was removed, due to Great Britain's inability to send men and supplies across the lake. Lake Erie also served as parts of boundaries in treaties between the United States and the Indians during the late 1700s and the early 1800s. Among the most important of these agreements was the Treaty of Greeneville in 1795.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : Floods in the many rivers flowing to the Ohio and in the Ohio River itself have long been a problem; a devastating flood in 1913 led to the establishment of the Miami valley conservation project. Continuing long-term state and federal projects have improved locks and dams along the entire length of the Ohio and its major tributaries, for navigation as well as flood control purposes.

Both farms and industries in Ohio were hard hit by the Great Depression that began in 1929. In the 1930s the state was wracked by major strikes such as the sit-down strikes in Akron (1935–36) and the so-called Little Steel strike (1937). World War II brought great prosperity to Ohio, but labor strife later resumed, as in the steel strikes of 1949 and 1959. Political unrest also affected the state in the protests of the 1960s and most violently in 1970 when four students were killed by national guardsmen who fired on a group of Vietnam War protesters at Kent State Univ.

Ohio's economy went into massive decline in the 1970s and 80s as the automobile, steel, and coal industries virtually collapsed, causing unemployment to soar. Akron, once world famous as a rubber center, stopped manufacturing rubber products altogether by the mid-1980s. During this period, the state's northern industrial centers were especially hard hit and lost much of their population. Since then, Ohio has concentrated on diversifying its economy, largely through expansion of the service sector. The state became an important center for the health-care industry with the opening of the Cleveland Clinic. Industrial research is also important, with Nela Park near Cleveland and Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus among the more notable research centers; there are also still important rubber research laboratories in Akron.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor: Most Ohioans were sympathetic with the Union in the Civil War, and many Ohioans served in the Union army. Native sons such as Joshua R. Giddings, Salmon P. Chase, and Edwin M. Stanton had long been prominent opponents of slavery. Nevertheless, the Peace Democrats, the Knights of the Golden Circle, and the Copperheads were very active; Clement L. Vallandigham drew many votes in the gubernatorial election of 1863. Ohio was the scene of the northernmost penetration of Confederate forces in the war—the famous raid (1863) of John Hunt Morgan, which terrorized the people of the countryside until Morgan and most of his men were finally captured in the southeast corner of the state.

After the Civil War industrial development grew rapidly when shipments of ore from the upper Great Lakes region increased and the development of the petroleum industry in NE Ohio shifted the center of economic activity from the banks of the Ohio River to the shores of Lake Erie, particularly around Cleveland. Immigrants began to swell the population, and huge fortunes were made.

Ohio became very important politically. The state contributed seven American presidents: Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William Howard Taft, and Warren G. Harding. Big business and politics became entwined as in the relations of Marcus A. Hanna and McKinley. City bosses such as Cincinnati's George B. Cox also followed this pattern. The state as a whole was for many years steadily Republican, despite the rise of organized labor in the late 19th cent. and considerable labor strife. In the 1890s the reform-minded mayor of Toledo, Samuel “Golden Rule” Jones, won national fame for his espousal of city ownership of municipal utilities.

Have a Great 4th!

Jody Victor