CoasterGallery.com -- Cedar Point

Cedar Point
Sandusky, Ohio

The beautiful Lake Erie beach is what drew the first guests to Cedar Point back in 1870. Louis Zistel, a Sandusky entrepreneur, brought them across Sandusky Bay on a small side-wheel steamer. In 1888, the Grand Pavilion was built. In 1897 George Arthur Boeckling bought CP for $256,000. He would spend the rest of his life working to make CP a destination park for everyone. The Hotel Breakers opened on June 12, 1905. It contained 600 rooms, most with a view of Lake Erie. Each room had running water, and 100 had private baths, a rarity for turn-of-the-century resorts. This wonderful hotel remains in operation today! The lagoons also were opened the same year.

In the 1930s and 40s, the Coliseum Ballroom was home to countless dances, musical performances, and radio broadcasts. By the mid 1950s, businessmen George Roose and Emile Legros planned on turning the Point into a housing development. But after a few years of ownership, Roose and Legros changed their minds and decided to turn CP into the Disneyland of Ohio. Many rides still in operation such as the Sky Ride, Blue Streak, C.P.&L.E Rail Road, and Cadillac Cars opened in the 1960s. Currently the park has more coasters and more rides than any other park in the world.

Blue Streak