After the France Stone Company ceased operations in 1931, Robert Burge leased 19 acres of the site for recreational swimming and opened Centennial Quarry in 1934. Five years later, Burge and his associates opened Centennial Terrace, centered on "Dancing Under the Stars," an outdoor 10,000 square-foot Terrazzo dance floor. Centennial Terrace became a regular stop for many big bands in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1969, the complex was donated to Lucas County, and local band leaders kept people dancing there from 1971 to 1993. In 1994, the City of Sylvania leased the facility, renovated it, and reopened the quarry, and the Sylvania Area Joint Recreation District purchased the complex in 2007 and made further improvements to keep it a popular recreation destination. Fossil Park opened on September 22, 2001, through a partnership of the City of Sylvania, Hanson Aggregates Midwest, Inc. and The Olander Park System. There, families and amateur and professional paleontologists can sift through silica shale formed under an ancient salt sea for fossils from the Devonian Era, 359 to 416 million years ago. The area's quarries are world-renowned for examples of the fossilized remains of the trilobite Phachops rana. The park added the Quarry Ridge Bike Trail in 2006 and a solar-powered restroom facility in 2010.
