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Chippewa Lake Amusement Park

Chippewa Lake Amusement Park was one of many small vacation destinations scattered throughout Ohio in the early 20th century. Founded as a beach and picnic ground in 1878 on Chippewa lake near Cleveland, the park added attractions through its early years including a steamboat, live music, and a rudimentary rollercoaster. By the early 1960’s, Chippewa Lake had a ballroom, three rollercoasters, a tumblebug ride, and a ferris wheel.

In the 1970’s, smaller parks like Chippewa Lake were losing customers to the larger regional parks, like Cedar Point. Unable to attract enough patrons to justify the amount of investment that it would take to update the park, the owners decided to close it in 1978, 100 years after it opened.

For 30 years after, the park remained in suspended animation as a dense forest grew up and through it. Some of the rides were sold off, while many of the larger attractions like the roller coasters and the ferris wheel were enveloped in overgrowth. The ballroom burned down in 2002, along with most of the larger buildings in the following years.

In 2008, it was announced that the park was to be torn down to make way for a hotel and spa development. Most of the trees and brush were removed in 2009, and the big dipper roller coaster was demolished in 2010. A short time later though the plan faltered with the onset of the recession, and work stopped.