Olcott Beach was once a prime recreation destination that drew thousands each year, with trains bringing summer vacationers from inland cities and steamers carrying visitors from American and Canadian lake ports. People stayed at grand hotels, swam, enjoyed the sandy beach, and visited attractions such as the Rialto amusement park built by the International Railway Company, with its Figure 8 wooden roller coaster, carousel, and other family activities; the Rustic Theater, where outdoor shows were presented against a Lake Ontario backdrop; Luna Park, with games, food, rides, and souvenirs; and Olcott Pier, where the Chicora arrived loaded with visitors. In 1889 the first carousel, called the Electric Riding Gallery, was installed, and at one time the resort had eight hotels: the Eagle Hotel, Cottage Hotel, Albright Hotel, International Hotel, Rockwell Hotel, Harborview Hotel, Bradley Hotel, and the Olcott Beach Hotel, the largest of them. The Castle Inn, which burned in 1912, was primarily a restaurant but also had rooms for rent, and the Bradley Hotel housed workers who helped build the Olcott Beach Hotel and is now known as the Olcott Inn on Main Street. The Olcott Beach Hotel opened in 1902 with a 14,000 square foot ballroom, dining room, large veranda overlooking the lake, and more than 100 guest rooms, while the Weeks Hotel was wrecked by Carrie Nation in 1907. During the 1890s the Rustic Theater featured singers and jugglers, the Pioneer Association hosted a pioneer picnic every third Wednesday in August at the Log Cabin, and Theodore Roosevelt, then New York State Governor, spoke to a crowd of 20,000 there in 1899. A significant portion of Olcott between Lockport Street and Eighteenmile Creek was destroyed in the 1927 Black Fire. In the 1930s top bands of the Great Band Era played there, including Paul Whiteman, Guy Lombardo, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Louis Armstrong, Artie Sahw, and Cab Calloway. The Olcott Beach Hotel was demolished in 1937 after the Great Depression reduced overnight stays and the hotel could not afford repairs for foundation settlement damage, and buses replaced trolleys as the main form of transportation.