Boneville

I'm looking for some information on Boneville with no luck so far. When I search online, all I get is a basic description on WHAT Boneville is, not when it was put in, whose idea it was, or any significance (if any).

Personally I love taking the train around the park and the skeletons are always so darn welcoming! :-) Any old pics, articles or links are welcome!

I really don't know for sure, but I imagine that it's been there since the train opened in 1963.

Here is an undated brochure I have from before frontier trail opened in 1971.

http://www.rollercoasterfreak.com/CP_Brochures/CPLE_Brochure.html

Complete with a "bandito"!

Looking at the brochure again, I see that Boneville was originally called Ghost Town.

In Cedar Point: The Queen of American Watering Places, it states the following:

New steel passenger cars were fabricated, animated western figures were placed along the track, and the Cedar Point & Lake Eerie Railroad carried its first passengers in 1963.

So, Boneville in some form was there in 1963. Combined with the brochure Jason has scanned, it looks like Boneville was maybe just one section of the overall Ghost Town?

The history timeline states that in 1965 additional animations were added to both the the Western Cruise and the train. It's unclear when the other "western" animations were replaced with skeletons only.

Here's a YouTube video from the 1970's which features a pretty complete look at Boneville. The footage starts at around the 0:34 mark. It looks very similar to what we have today. Although a few characters appear different or not there anymore.

The fence humping was a little bit different in the 70's apparently.

I've been watching other Boneville videos on YouTube this week, and the biggest difference from the 70's to today is that there used to be a Music Hall building. This building was separate from the "groups" of buildings and had 3 skeletons on a balcony with at least 1 skeleton down below.

The most logical replacement for this building would probably be what is now Billy Bob's Sawmill. It's unclear when the Music Hall went away and when Billy Bob's was built. Everything else looks very similar from the 1980's to the present.

I've been told that Boneville was added, in part, to draw the attention of guests away from backstage operations visible to the right of the train.

I assume that would be when Boneville props are on the left. Because as it is now, they are on both sides, depending on where you are. I'm not sure if they were on both sides in the 60's.

I may be mistaken, and RCMAC, chime in if you know different, but I seem to recall the music hall scene caught fire, and was sufficiently damaged that management opted not to rebuild it. Considering the whole operation ran on propane, it could have been real interesting.

I know the skeletons were in fact displayed in certain areas of the CP/LE RR in 1964, its second year of opening. I have some old family 35mm Kodak slides (dated Sept. 1964) that show the old yellow Wells Fargo burning building and also a Jail/Saloon scene with the skeletons dueling out front. I'm more inclined to go with Jason's idea that the area wasn't called Boneville until later on, but was in fact "Ghost Town". When was the name change made? I'll let you know what I find.

The music hall was removed in 1978 when the gemini crossing gate was installed.

Dug through my notes from when I worked there, there was a real fire in Boneville the summer of 1974. Some one had apparently tossed a lit cigarette off an inbound train one afternoon. Quick action by the RR staff and the CP fire dept kept it from engulfing the scene and the propane tank behind it. Three train day, held up the operation for about forty five minutes until an all clear was given.

Jason Hammond said:

I assume that would be when Boneville props are on the left. Because as it is now, they are on both sides, depending on where you are. I'm not sure if they were on both sides in the 60's.

Yes. Sorry, i guess I was trying to be too concise. Between the Frontier Town station and the Gemini Midway crossing, that part of Boneville was there to distract attention from the backstage areas to the right.

Being the guy who hops the single rider line on Harry Potter in part to peer around the edge of the ride vehicle and watch the ride vehicle behind us, I would often watch what was going on to the right. :-)

I've had a bit of a breakthrough in my Boneville research!

After years of combing through records of Boneville dating back as far as the early 1960's, I've put together what I think is a rather enlightening chart regarding the town and its related bones, skeletons, and the like.

On one hand, I think it really puts things in perspective. But it also underscores how much more we have to learn regarding the people of Boneville (not to mention their bones).

https://pointbuzz.com/Forums/Image/UserImage/479

No citations in your research. Fake news.

Ok, question for any of you older RR enthusiasts... In the map Jason Hammond posted, you can see where the music hall was and where the Gemini Midway crossing was added. However, looking northeast, past the music hall and what appears to be a bear is Lake Erie! Now, I suspect the original Boneville buildings are where they have always been. This appears to be verified in the video from the 70's someone posted. If the Lake was literally separated from the lagoons by a thin strand of land, where was the Breakers and the land where the Gemini currently sits, not to mention the old Jungle Larry's are and the Power Tower? Was this illustration just not drawn to scale or am I simply reading the map wrong?

It's just an illustration. That map is more cartoon than real. It almost looks more like a design drawing that got reused. I can't imagine they would write "Elopement Scene" on a souvenir map on purpose.

I think a lot of the early Frontiertown marketing focused on the fact that it was entirely separate from the rest of the park. In many ways, it truly was a "wilderness" and "journey back in time".

Yes -- the first year of Frontiertown being open, 1967, the only way to get there was the train. The Frontier Lift arrived the following year, and Frontier Trail in the early 70s.