Puritas Springs began as an area where the Puritas Mineral Spring Company bottled and sold mineral water from natural springs. In 1894, the Cleveland and Berea Street Railway bought Puritas Springs and expanded it into a picnic grove with a dance hall and pavilion to increase passenger traffic on the inter-urban line. Puritas Springs Park opened on June 10, 1900, the first day the railway operated all the way to the entrance gates. John E. Gooding bought Puritas Springs in June 1915 and added an indoor roller rink, amusement rides, and the Cyclone roller coaster. In 1927, famed roller coaster designer John A. Miller built the Cyclone at Puritas Springs Park to take advantage of the site at the edge of the Rocky River Valley, and when it opened on June 10, 1928, patrons regarded it as one of the tallest and fastest coasters in Northern Ohio. Riders plunged 87 feet into the ravine on a winding course through the trees and around the cliff’s edge, intensifying the hills, turns, and dips. Reports that many were killed on the Cyclone are false, although one inebriated rider fell from the coaster in 1953 and died. The high cost of maintenance forced the Cyclone to close in 1956. The park closed on Labor Day 1958, and on May 9, 1959, a fire destroyed many parts of the abandoned park. The Cyclone is on the Smithsonian Institution’s list of Great Lost Roller Coasters.
