Logansport, founded in 1838, became linked to the famed Dentzel tradition of carousel carving that began in Germany and was carried to the United States by Gustav Dentzel, who started building carousels in Philadelphia, Pa. in 1867. The Dentzel carousel in Logansport is believed to date from the late 1800s or early 1900s and first operated for several years at Fort Wayne's Robison Park before declining attendance after a dam burst led to its move in 1919 to Spencer Park on Logansport's east edge, where it encouraged streetcar riders to pay full fare to the end of the line. After passing through the ownership of Dewey Schmidt, Lawrence Jones, and Harold and Mary Thomas, it was moved again in 1949 to Riverside Park. In 1963, Lawrence Kandler bought the carousel and later received an offer of $45,000 from an Illinois buyer, but after his death in 1965 it remained in his estate until the Logansport Jaycees raised more than $21,000 in 1972 to keep it in the city despite interest from communities in South Carolina, Texas, New York, and Georgia. The nonprofit Cass County Carousel Corporation was formed to manage it, and in 1987 it became Cass County's first National Historic Landmark and was recognized as one of only three intact Dentzel carousels in the United States. Its menagerie of horses, goats, reindeer, a tiger, and a lion was removed in 1993 for restoration at the Carousel Works in Mansfield, Ohio, and in 1995, as Riverside Park marked its 100th anniversary, a community fund drive built an all-season home dedicated that summer. The carousel later served as the centerpiece for the National Carousel Convention and the site of the issue of the U.S. Postal Service Dentzel commemorative stamp.