Lost Ohio

I thought I’d do something a little bit different this time. After visiting the Victorian Perambulator Museum, and meeting the wonderful twin sisters that ran it, a thought kind of hit me. They won’t be around forever. When that time comes, what’s going to happen to than collection they’ve spent the last 35 years of their lives putting together? Do their kids want to keep adding to the collection, and their parent’s (or even grandparent’s) legacy? Will they want to keep it as is as a memorial of sorts? Or will they not have any particularly intense feelings about it, and sell it off? That thought has been with me a lot the past few days, so I thought I’d take some time to look at just a few attractions that Ohio has lost. A few of them were gone many years ago, while a couple have gone away since I started this project.

One and Only Presidential Museum – Williamsfield, OH

When I started putting the list together for this entire project some 5-6 years ago, I started by getting an alphabetical list of counties together. So, obviously, Ashtabula County was an early one for me to research. Two major places hit my radar: the Victorian Perambulator Museum, and the One and Only Presidential Museum.

Picture from Roadside America

The gist of this museum is that Nick Pahys Jr. didn’t believe George Washington was actually the first President. There were actually 8 men that were in charge of the country in the years between the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution we live by today. Pahys spent 50 years researching these men, and telling their story. In actuality, based on reports I’ve read, Pahys was almost more interested in telling his own story than that of John Hanson (the “REAL” first President). Unfortunately, Pahys died in October of 2017, and almost immediately, his widow shut down the museum. I cannot find any information about what happened to the items in the museum.

If you’d like to check out Nick’s book about the first Presidents, it’s available for $20 on ebay.

Think about it though, 50 years poured into this museum, and it’s just gone without any sign as to where any of these items are now.

Inventors Hall of Fame – Akron

This is one attraction I was fortunate enough to visit when it was open. The National Inventors Hall of Fame was founded in Akron in 1973. In 1995, a Museum was opened on the campus of The University of Akron. For those of us in Columbus, it shares more than a passing resemblance to COSI. I remember that after you paid you admission, you rode the longest escalator I’ve ever seen all the way to the top, and made your way down 5 levels of exhibits and plaques celebrating the works of famous inventors.

Once you reached the bottom, there was an interactive floor of exhibits (again, referencing COSI, it was like a bigger version of Gadgets) along with classrooms. Unfortunately, the museum didn’t attract enough visitors, and the museum was moved to the U.S. Patent Offices in Virginia. This wonderful building is now home to a STEM-based middle school.

World of Rubber – Akron

Staying in Akron, the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company was founded in Akron in 1898. It has become one of the largest tire manufacturers in the world, and their iconic blimp has been a mainstay at sporting events since its first flight in 1925. On the fourth floor of the Goodyear headquarters was a four-room museum dedicated to Goodyear’s history.

The thing that makes me really regret missing this one: it hadn’t been updated since roughly 1968. That’s where the timeline of rubber innovation on the wall runs out, according to sources. There was a recreation of Charles Goodyear’s workshop in the museum, and apparently it had an absolutely terrifying mannequin in it. Unfortunately for all of us kitsch-admirers out there, Goodyear shuttered the World of Rubber in 2009 after selling the building it was located in, and deciding that finding a new home (and likely updating it) would be too expensive.

Anheuser-Busch Brewery Tour – Columbus

On the north side of Columbus, there are two iconic sets of towers. First are the twin water towers so well known that they are used by local radio stations as a marker for where auto accidents and backups are.

Then just down the road a bit are the other two towers full of water… the Anheuser-Busch towers.

The Columbus Anheuser-Busch plant was actually the 6th plant the beer makers built in the United States. When it opened in the 1960’s, it made about 1.5 million barrels of beer a year. That output is roughly 10 times as high today.

When our family would visit the nearby, long-closed, and dearly missed Continent, we would often make a trip over to the brewery and take a walk through their factory tour. I don’t really know why because our family is not really what you’d call “drinkers”. I think we just enjoyed seeing stuff being made.

I distinctly remember the first time we went that the tour was guided. We walked through a covered walkway above the production floor where you could see the massive fermentation vats and barrels. Then I recall seeing the high-speed bottling and labeling machines. After a few more windows, you were dumped out into a tasting room, which we never stopped in.

The next couple times we went, the tour was a bit different. The path was the same, but the guide was gone. The human guide had been replaced with wall placards giving the same basic information. It wasn’t quite the same, but you still got the great views and smells.

I also recall they had a great gift shop. I very nearly bought a Bud Light putter at one time because I adored the deep blue color of the putter shaft, but thought they wouldn’t let me use it during my high school golf tournaments. Unfortunately, in 1999 they discontinued the tour and closed the gift shop. I always wondered if that walkway was still there, just behind some door. I believe they have renovated the entire brewhouse since then, so I suppose that area has now been destroyed. There are occasional tours of the brewhouse again, but they are very special and limited events.

The 7 Caves – Bainbridge

Opened in 1930, the 7 Caves were a natural wonder that had been turned into a family vacation destination / kitschy-tourist trap type of park. You would walk down miles of trails to find 7 caves that had been strung up with lights to show off all of the natural rock formations. It became insanely popular in the 1940’s and 50’s in particular. Admissions began to sharply drop in the 60’s, and they never really recovered.

In 1995, a group focused on preserving much of Southern Ohio’s natural beauty named Arc of Appalachia bought a majority of the 7 Caves, then when the 7 Caves closed for good in 2005 Arc of Appalachia procured the rest of the park. All but one of the caves are now closed to the public and have become bat habitats. One is still open, but without all the 7 Caves accoutrements. The final cave should have a new walking path sometime in 2021. The original 7 Caves admission building is now an Appalachian Forest museum.

Geauga Lake / Sea World

The area around the actual Geauga Lake was settled in the early 1800’s. In 1856, a railroad depot was built near the lake, and that’s kind of when Geauga Lake started to become an attraction. By 1888, major league baseball games were actually played at ball fields at the park. The first ride, a steam powered carousel, was built in 1889. In 1969, Geauga Lake was bought by Funtime Incorporated. The next year, a marine park was built on the other side of the lake. That marine park, SeaWorld, became a massive destination in and of itself.

I remember going to SeaWorld once, maybe twice (?). I remember really enjoying the Shamu show, and the tactical error of sitting in the splash zone of the Shamu show just as we had to ride in a car for two hours home.

The two parks worked together to become a third major amusement destination in Ohio (Kings Island and Cedar Point being the others). In the year 2000, Geauga Lake became part of the Six Flags family. Suddenly, the small amusement park with a handful of rides, but mainly a place for swimming and picnics, became a major player in the amusement park game, adding 20 rides between 2000-2004. Meanwhile, the SeaWorld company, looking to change some of their focus away from the educational (and many would say exploitative) aspects of their offerings began to build rides in their parks. At first, SeaWorld had offered to buy Geauga Lake from Six Flags. Six Flags instead offered to buy SeaWorld, which happened in 2004. And thus, Six Flags World of Adventure was born – instantly becoming the largest amusement park in the world at 700 acres.

The thing was…Six Flags wasn’t doing too well as a company at this time. They were thinking about selling Worlds of Adventure. Just before the 2004 season, Cedar Fair, owners of Cedar Point and Kings Island, put the finishing touches on a purchase of Worlds of Adventure. Leaving the Six Flags bubble meant all of the Looney Tunes and DC branded rides had to change their names practically overnight. Cedar Fair also changed the name of the park back to Geauga Lake.

Then just days before the 2004 season was to start, the first shoe for the park dropped. Cedar Fair suddenly and immediately closed SeaWorld. The animals remained with Six Flags and were sent to other parks. The SeaWorld buildings were demolished. In 2005, Cedar Fair reused some of the old SeaWorld land to build a water park called WildWater Kingdom. The next year, some more water park rides were built, but as for the Geauga Lake side of things, roller coasters were slowly being removed and sold to other parks. It makes sense if you think about it. Cedar Fair’s main money maker is less than 90 miles away – they don’t need to be splitting their resources on two parks that close to each other. After the end of the 2007 season, Cedar Fair announced the permanent closure of Geauga Lake – though the water park would stay open. In 2008 all of the remaining Geauga Lake rides were either sold off or demolished.

WildWater Kingdom closed down permanently in 2016. There is a lot of talk about new development near the lake. For now, all we still have the Google Maps view from above, where you can still see the where these parks and all the rides once stood.

Everyone good and depressed now? That wasn’t really the point, but it was a side effect. I guess if I want people to take anything away from this post, it’s that you should get out and enjoy stuff when it’s there. Because you never know when something might happen, and it goes away.

Does anybody have a lost attraction in Ohio they’d like to see me cover? I already have a couple suggestions for another post, but could always use more.

If you’d like to support me in continuing my mission to visit roadside attractions in Ohio, consider helping out on ko-fi!