Using a four-mile-long dam, the state of Ohio impounded the Licking Summit Reservoir in the mid-1820s to supply water for the Ohio and Erie Canal. In 1894, the state renamed it Buckeye Lake and developed it for recreational use. The Columbus, Buckeye Lake, and Newark Traction Company created an electric park here, bringing excursionists on interurban cars between 1904 and 1929 and helping make it one of the region's most popular resorts. Hotels and summer cottages proliferated on leased ground, and the nine-acre park offered daily free admission during the summer. Promoted as offering every amusement consistent with good morals and behavior, it featured the Dips roller coaster, a 100-by-200-foot swimming pool, a roller skating rink, and dozens of other attractions. During its heyday in the 1940s, big bands including those of Guy Lombardo, Glenn Miller, and Tommy Dorsey with singer Frank Sinatra played at the Crystal Ballroom and Lake Breeze Pier Ballroom. The park declined in the 1960s and was later acquired by the state, and the adjacent fountain is its last remaining feature.

Photo: William Fischer, Jr.

Photo: William Fischer, Jr.

Hebron, Ohio · USA