Columbus, Ohio, once home to several amusement parks

My dad often told me stories about cutting school and going to Olentangy Park to see the big bands that were playing including Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman.

At the time, Olentangy Park was the largest amusement park in the world (at least that is what their press releases said).

I have a classic postcard, often used in books, of Loop the Loop, one of the first coasters to go upside down. I believe the credit came with a neck brace...

The article doesn't even mention Norwood Park. It was around a bit later. Today, the site is still a city park, home to a sewage pump house. I visited the site recently and noted that the concrete steps leading down to the Alum Creek are still there, but largely silted over with mud.

Indianola Park is actually up closer to my neighborhood. The site is now a shopping center, and the ballroom building is still standing. It was recently renovated by the Xenos Christian Fellowship. A research note; the park is at the corner of 4th St. and 18th Ave., but on old maps, 4th St. at that point is shown as Indianola Ave...which is interesting, because Indianola Ave. is two blocks to the West.

As the article notes, Olentangy Park was on High St. at the end of the streetcar line. It turns out that when the LeVeque brothers bought the property, it was annexed into the City of Columbus. So while the Sanborn maps show Olentangy Park, much of the detail normally present on those maps is absent because the park was outside the city limits. Then after the annexation, the maps were pasted over and their orientation was actually changed to fit more of the property onto the page. The property is now home to the Olentangy Village apartments, and a Giant Eagle store. Personally, I refer to that particular store as the "Olentangy Park" location.

As I understand it, Columbus' first Zoo was located on High St. in Beechwold, well north of Olentangy Park. At some point, the Zoo was moved to Olentangy Park, then after Olentangy Park closed, the Zoo and the park's carousel were moved to their current location on the Scioto River.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

"Columbus, Ohio, once home to several amusement parks," but now the industry has been reduced to a monopoly of four or five corporations and they attract more people to their parks than independent owners do.

bjames said:

a monopoly of four or five corporations

Does not compute...

Here is an interesting site dedicated to Indianola Park.

http://www.indianolapark.com/ 

Cater, apparently exclusive means multiple now.

If Parker Brothers had come up with the game after Standard Oil had been a memory, maybe the term in common usage would be Oligopoly. As it is, I rarely hear the term outside of an ECON class...

Tekwardo said:

Cater, apparently exclusive means multiple now.

Oh, now you're gonna make him supply the food, too?

^ Only bran muffins.

Baboons and constipation. You won't find anything but the highest of high brow comedy from me.