Friday, January 07, 2000
25 million visited park over 77 years
BY JANET C. WETZEL and MICHAEL D. CLARK
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MONROE — Americana Amusement Park became a Tristate touchstone after it first opened as LeSourdsville Lake in 1922.
During its 77 years in Butler County, the park welcomed an estimated 25 million guests.
The 75-acre park, which has a 22-acre lake and sits along the Great Miami River between Hamilton and Middletown, was developed by the late Edgar Streifthau.
Mr. Streifthau, known as an Ohio pioneer in the outdoor amusement industry, also founded Fantasy Farm next door.
The park has changed hands several times over the years, and is now owned by Park River West Corp., a local firm that also owns Coney Island in Hamilton County.
Americana featured nine covered picnic shelters and room for 5,000 picnickers. It was one of about 600 amusement parks remaining in the country.
Park River bought the park in 1996 from Leisure Systems Inc., and has since poured about $4 million into a face lift.
A big draw was 11 kiddie rides and 32 adult thrill rides, including the ever-popular Screechin' Eagle, a 2,640-foot, wooden roller coaster built in 1927, one of the nation's oldest. There also were familiar rides like the Whip, Skyride, Tilt-O-Whirl, Scrambler and log flume.
The park also provided an appealing array of shows and other forms of entertainment, such as family hayrides and season-long performances by the Fabulous Wallenda Family.
There was also free miniature golf, a Western mining town and paddleboats.
Attendance in 1996, the most recent available, was 200,000. By comparison, Kings Island attracted 3.6 million visitors that year.
Americana park ends 77 years of family fun
25 million visited park over 77 years
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