New Exhibition: Remembering Geauga Lake Park: Rides~Souvenirs~Fun
Thinking about Geauga Lake Park is bitter-sweet to many Aurora residents. They fondly remember and miss the rides, food, games, and keepsakes from their days visiting the park. On the hand, few miss the traffic, loud noises, or crowds. We associate the park with hot summer days, laughter, and fun. Although the park in no longer in existence, we can remember it and chronicle its long history and talk about “the good old days” when we could walk to, or take a short drive to, Geauga Lake Park and its magic in our town.
Stop by the museum to see a variety of Geauga Lake Park memorabilia. On display are photographs, a history timeline of the park, caricatures, souvenirs, employee materials, and a listing of rides. My volunteer, Cori Iannaggi, a Kent State University history major, was instrumental in creation of this exhibition. Cori worked at the park during her high school summers and remembers the crowds, hot days, and long hours. She enjoyed looking through our employee archives from park records as well as researching the rides and writing a good portion of the text.
Cori and I tried to display newer items that we received from the park in 2008 as well as items donated by the Kolson sisters— Martha Lambert, Alice Heck, & Ruth Waller. The sisters visited the museum and told of the years they lived in a house inside the park. It was part of their father’s, Victor Kolson, recompense as local supervisor and general maintenance worker at the park. The women lived in the park from 1946 – 1955. They remembered it being great fun and visiting with their parents while they worked at various tasks in the park. Alice and Ruth actually spent some of their summers working in the park but Martha was too young for such activities. Martha did remember learning to ride her first bike—a Christmas gift—in the parking lot. The sisters donated a photograph album along with other items. The photographer was Herman Studios. If anyone has information regarding this photographer or other Aurora based photographers, please contact Marcelle Wilson at the museum. She is looking to add this history to our files.
Museum hours: Mondays & Wednesdays 2:00 – 4:00 or by appointment
330.995.3336 www.aurorahistorical.org