Tallmadgeexpress.com - Some old carousels still entertain

by Ken Lahmers
Editor, Aurora Advocate

The last word I've heard about Geauga Lake's 1926 vintage Marcus Illions carousel is that it's in storage, possibly awaiting a move to another park.

It was not offered for sale at the June auction, at which several rides, memorabilia and contents of many buildings were sold.

Having been restored just a few years ago, it would seem the beautiful and historic ride should fit in well somewhere some day, and I hope it finds a home.

There once were thousands of carousels operating in North America, but the number has dwindled to about 375, according to the National Carousel Association's database.

Carousels have existed in Europe since the 1700s, but it was Gustav Dentzel who pioneered the modern carousel in America in the 1860s.

The listing for Ohio shows 18 machines, not including the one at Geauga Lake.

Three of the Ohio "merry-go-rounds," as people sometimes call them, are at Cedar Point and were built between 1912 and 1921. Two are in a Merry-Go-Round Museum in Sandusky.

The midway carousel at Cedar Point, built by D.C. Muller in 1912, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Among other places where carousels still operate are Toledo, Chapel Hill Mall in Akron, Richland Carrousel Park in Mansfield, Geneva-on-the-Lake and New Philadelphia.

In September when I visited Mansfield, I stopped by to check out Richland Carrousel Park, which boasts the first hand-carved carousel built since the 1930s.

Tuscora, Meyer's Lake

The carousel that I grew up riding and am most familiar with is the 1925 Herschell-Spillman machine at Tuscora Park in New Philadelphia, where I spent a lot of time during the summers of my youth.

It has 36 jumping horses, two chariots and a 1928 Wurlitzer band organ. It is all wood with three rows of horses. It was restored in 1976 and again in the 1980s.

It has been at the municipal park since the 1940s. The park also features a 1920s C.W. Parker Ferris wheel, several kiddie rides, an indoor pavilion and an outdoor amphitheater and swimming pool.

Another carousel which I rode as a kid was the 1914 Stein and Goldstein machine, which operated at Meyer's Lake Park in Canton from 1939 until it closed in 1974.

That carousel, as well as the one which operated at the now-defunct Idora Park in Youngstown, are still in existence, unlike many which met their demise when amusement parks closed.

The Meyer's Lake carousel was purchased by the Knox Foundation for $55,000 and now thrills riders at a pavilion in downtown Hartford, Conn.

It is a three-row machine, with 36 jumping horses, 12 stationary horses, two chariots and a Wurlitzer band organ.

The carousel is managed by the New England Carousel Museum of Bristol, Conn., which owns one of the nation's largest collections of carousel pieces.

Before it was acquired by Meyer's Lake, it is believed to have operated at a park between Troy and Albany, N.Y. It is one of 17 made by Stein and Goldman and one of only three known to still operate.

Meyer's Lake park got its start in the 1920s around the 144-acre lake in what is Canton Township. My folks and I visited it when my dad's company had its annual picnic there.

My folks used to about going to Moonlight Ballroom to hear play. Fire destroyed the building in January 1979, five years after the park closed.

Founded in the 1860s, the park was owned by the Sinclair family for more than 70 years before it closed. The lake now is surrounded by condominiums.

A few years ago when I visited Meyer's Lake's southern shore, I spotted an old car from a ride. My favorite ride there was the Rocket Ships, which swung out over the lake.

Idora Park carousel

When Idora Park closed after the 1984 season, its 1922 Philadelphia Toboggan Co. carousel was purchased by David and Jane Walentas for $384,000.

Over the years, the couple restored the machine, which is now displayed inside a Brooklyn, N.Y., building, but is not running.

The couple hopes to relocate it to Brooklyn Bridge Park and has created an organization called Friends of Jane's Carousel to raise funds for the move and start-up.

Idora Park opened in 1899 as Terminal Park, and during its life featured the Wildcat and Jack Rabbit roller coasters.

In the spring of 1984, just weeks before the season was to open, part of the Wildcat, the Lost River ride and several midway game stands were destroyed by fire.

The season opened, but the park was closed right after it ended. Another fire in 1986 destroyed Heidelberg Gardens, one of the earliest park buildings, and a handful of others.

In 2001, the park's ballroom burned down, and later that year the property's owner -- Mount Calvary Pentecostal Church -- demolished the remaining rides and buildings.

The land sets vacant now. The church had big plans to develop a "City of God," but financial difficulties reportedly have sidetracked those plans.

Over at the old Chippewa Lake Park in Medina County, which Auroran Jim Vaca and I visited recently, little seems to be known about what became of the 1922 Allan Herschell carousel.

We saw its building, which has collapsed into a heap of rotted wood. The horses might have been sold, but nothing I could find on the Internet confirmed that.

Herschell, by the way, is the all-time carousel king, having made some 3,000 of them. It operated from 1915 to the early 1970s, when it was taken over by rival amusement ride maker Chance Manufacturing.

E-mail: klahmers@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3155