'Coney Island of the West' lingers in minds, finds

Silver Lake- Dancers gliding across a polished wood floor. Black bear cubs growling at visitors. Children gasping in delight as they ride a toboggan down a wooden chute into the water. All provide a ghostly echo along the shore of placid Silver Lake.

A hundred years ago, as many as 10,000 people a day traveled by buggy, train or trolley from Cleveland, Akron and Pittsburgh to the Silver Lake Amusement Park in Summit County. They saw the largest dance pavilion and first aquarium in the state and the first black bears successfully raised in captivity in the country.

Today, almost nothing remains of what some called the "Coney Island of the West." But found among the tree-lined streets of homes in the 3,000-resident community are remnants of a bear pit, a cougar cage and a dry dock. China, flasks and other items sometimes surface from the 100-acre lake.

The park was the vision of Ralph H. Lodge, who first saw the lake when he helped his father build fireplaces and chimneys in the area, bordered by what is now Stow, Munroe Falls and Cuyahoga Falls.

After a successful career as a grocer and fruit grower, Lodge bought the lake for $1,300 in 1874, according to historical documents and Susann Drbal, president of the Silver Lake Historical Society. The following year he bought 35 acres at the southwest corner.

In 1876 he built a small bath house and pavilion and rented boats to fishermen. The lake, known as Wetmore's Pond, was renamed Silver Lake.

Lodge purchased more land and added the dance pavilion, tents, cottages and an 83-room hotel. His amusement park featured a merry-go-round, midway and roller coaster.

In 1880 he began a menagerie, which included raccoons, monkeys and elk. In 1888 a female black bear cub named Topsy was given to Lodge. He bought an 8-month-old male cub, named Patrick, for $15 and built a brick pit, 20 feet in diameter and 10 feet deep. Patrick later fathered 78 bear cubs with three females over 30 years. Most survived. Lodge sold surplus cubs to zoos and vaudeville trainers. One pair was sold as mascots to the Chicago Cubs.

The Smithsonian Institution published an article on Lodge's success in breeding black bears. Researchers said that while cubs had been born in captivity elsewhere, only a few had survived. The researchers credited Lodge with separating his cubs from their parents, feeding them well and providing them with excellent housing.

Attendance at Silver Lake boomed in the late 1800s as railroad and trolley lines provided more access. Instead of savoring lake views, Lodge would look out his home's front window to watch the crowds arrive, said Drbal, 72, who grew up in Lodge's home, near what is now Ohio 59. She and her husband bought it from her family in 1969. Four windows have inch-thick glass from the former aquarium, and remains of a bear pit are in her back yard.

Drbal marvels at the success of Silver Lake, which charged 5 cents for admission and had revenue of as much as $5,000 a day when it was open from June to September. She said Lodge allowed no alcohol and closed the park on Sundays. But resourceful visitors went to nearby Crystal Lake, where they could drink, then threw their flasks over the side of the steamboat that took them across Silver Lake to their hotel rooms.

Lodge's nine children helped run the park, but his son, William, was most involved and took over operations after his father died in 1907.

Attendance dipped during World War I because the trains were used to transport supplies and troops, said Drbal. William Lodge's sisters and brothers decided to sell. The park was sold to developers for $600,000 in 1918. William Lodge insisted it be demolished, she said.

She said some residents find Silver Lake memorabilia in antiques stores and at estate sales. Many are on display at Village Hall. A friend recently gave Drbal a handmade glass Silver Lake Park paperweight.

People who have purchased houses have found remnants, such as tracks from the miniature train that ran along the lakeshore, Drbal said. They had no idea there had been an amusement park.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

kfarkas@plaind.com, 1-800-628-6689

 

© 2004 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.