Mid-Century Cedar Point

If you want to know what the park was really like from the 60s and 70s, just ask.

Why should I ask, I was there in the 60s and 70s. I was even there in the 50s. What do you want to know?

What percentage of the time that the park was open were the buckets operating? What caused their downtime when they were not running?

Were the webcams hand cranked?

The webcams were not hand cranked, but the buckets were. They actually were buckets. Since they didn't have doors you had to crawl over the side. They had a step stool for the ladies. A kid sat in the east station and turned a crank. They moved kind of slow. But when the kid was told he could have a break when the green one reached the other end they really moved quite fast.

Since there was no internet, there were no webcams. But, they did have someone sitting on a pole with a Brownie box camera. Usually taking pictures of the parking lot. At the end of the day they would send the film out to a drug store to be developed. When the pics came back they would send them to the newspapers and TV stations.

Thank you for asking.

Now they have gold passes to encourage multiple visits. Back then it was on-ride photos. Visit today and come back next week to pick up your on-ride photos. If you didn't like the photo, you could ride again and come back the following week. But need to hurry because the park was closed after Labor Day.

Before reading this post, click here.

While Cedar Point often gets cited as the birthplace of the forward pass in football with Knute Rockne and Gus Dorias playing on the beach, a lesser-known bit of history is that it is also the birthplace of the "bunt" in the game of baseball. In 1910 The Wabash Mashers were in town to battle the Sandusky Martins (pictured below), with the game held where the RV campground now sits.

As the story goes, it was the bottom of the 3rd inning, and the Sandusky hurlers had kept the bats of the Mashers quiet all day. With the home crowd smelling victory, Thomas "Hoofer" O'Brien of the visiting team stunned the onlookers and his fellow players by simply extending his bat at a hurl, just making contact with the ball causing it to roll gently towards the 3rd base line. With a tug of his mustache Thomas "hoofed" it down the first base line while the confused Martins scrambled towards the ball. O'Brien was thrown out at first by a bootstrap, but a legend was born. Initially teased for not swinging the bat with all his might (and getting thrown out at first), "Hoofer" perfected this maneuver (initially known as the "Tommy Tap") over the years.

His great grandson became famous for other reasons.

More recently, the "Tush-Push" was perfected a couple years ago on the Giant Wheel.

Bluestreaker,

Did you ride on the stagecoach? I was told it tipped over and people got hurt so the ride was removed. I remember being "handed down" from the top to a parent. I was told that I screamed bloody murder getting on the monorail. I remember none of that. I remember standing in a sky ride bucket trying to look over side at the gardens below. I remember watching the Miss Ohio Pageant on tv when it was held in the ballroom. You could see the lights from some rides through the windows.

Shades,

The sky rides were never down, even in high wind. You just took your chances.

Not true.

Were the chicken tenders hand breaded back then?

I doubt it. I couldn't taste any hands.

I've heard from fellow employees of the pre Corkscrew era refer to the park as "Kennywood on steroids."

There was no such thing as chicken tenders then. In fact, they may have not yet been invented. No, we were forced to eat Actual. Chicken. Boxed dinners, two piece and a biscuit. Slaw. Roll. Giving more Red Barn than Kentucky Fried, but pretty good. Hooray for Chicken Patio and Frontier Inn. Top that off with fresh strawberry pie from Aunt Em’s and that was good eating. Then maybe off to check the line at Jumbo Jet then a night ride on Blue Steak was the perfect end to the day.
I worked at the park ‘73 and ‘74 and thinking of it gets deep into my feels for the 70’s. Technically, Mid-Century would be the 1950’s and for the most part Cedar Point was pretty crappy and the hotel was worse. I doubt there’s a single person on here that attended the park in the 50’s. I was born in Sandusky in 1954 and I know I was at the park as a baby (my dad loved it there, and my mom loved purple sno-cones) but I certainly can’t remember. My family wound up in Cleveland and our first visit wasn’t until ‘62 when everyone was flocking to visit the “new” Cedar Point, so I count that as my first. I don’t think I’ve missed a season since.

^Best bang-for-your-buck at Red Barn was the Big Barney. Available near our house at W.217 and Lorain, or by Grandma's on E.152. That one was not too far from Euclid Beach where Grandpa played the piano in the Dance Hall.

We were at W196th and I knew that Red Barn well. It was near Fairview High School and I remember when the lunchroom was being remodeled and we had to find our own lunch or pack. Red Barn, seeing an opportunity, erected a big party tent behind the store to serve high school students. Big crowds resulted and the neighborhood wasn’t very happy about it. I don’t know what happened exactly but I’m pretty sure the Barn won that one. I ate there a lot.

^At W.223 was the KFC, which was actually a Kenny Kings next to Jackson's Tavern. Now a Bridal Shop.

Oh weird, I remember the Red Barn on W. 117th, because my former church was on Loraine at W. 119th (still exists, different institution).

Small world Jeff. I lived off W.125th between Lorain and Linnet. That Red barn was across from Halloran park and the fire station. The church you speak of sat behind a doughnut shop at one point. It was a block over from the old Variety movie theater. Good times....