page_title: Euclid Beach Park
section_title: Roller coasters
hierarchical_section_title: Euclid Beach Park / Rides and attractions / Roller coasters
caption_attribution_description: English: This file can be found by going to the following LOC collection and searching for "Euclid Beach": http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/detroit/dethome.html All pictures in the collection were taken by 1920. This particular one is labelled to have been taken between 1890 and 1910. I know it had to be after 1895, because there is a roller coaster in the picture, and the first roller coaster at Euclid BEach opened in 1896.
context_page_description: Euclid Beach Park was an amusement park located on the southern shore of Lake Erie in the Collinwood neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio.
  Originally incorporated by investors from Cleveland and patterned after New York's Coney Island, the park was managed by William R. Ryan, Sr., who ran the park with featured attractions including vaudeville acts, concerts, gambling, a beer garden, and sideshows as well as a few early amusement rides. In 1899, Lee Holtzman became Euclid Beach's new manager. Later that same year, as reported in a Cleveland newspaper, Euclid Beach Park had failed. Former management was faced with the loss of more than half their investment if they sold the land for building development, and it was established that the original Euclid Beach Park Company was losing $20,000 a season.
  Dudley S. Humphrey, Jr. led six members of his family in undertaking management of the park as of 1901, leasing the park for five years at $12,000 a year. They expanded the beach and bathing facilities, including adding a lakeside swing, added many new attractions, and advertised to locals with the slogan, "one fare, free gate and no beer".
context_section_description: Seven roller coasters operated at Euclid Beach in the history of the park. All were wood coasters. The first roller coaster, the Switchback Railway, debuted in 1896 and closed in 1904. It was built by LaMarcus A. Thompson.
  The Switchback Railway was followed by the Figure Eight (1904—1909, designed by Henry B. Auchy and built by Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters) and the Scenic Railway, the second coaster to be built by Thompson (1907—1937).
  In 1909, John A. Miller premiered his first coaster at the park, the New Velvet Coaster (later renamed Aero Dips), which operated until 1965. He also designed the Derby Racer, later renamed Racing Coaster, which was built by Frederick Ingersoll and debuted in 1913 to much fanfare. It was featured in a Plain Dealer advertisement published on May 30, 1913, and survived until the close of the park in 1969. Racing Coaster only featured one track which formed a Möbius loop, where both coaster trains would begin on one side of the station and return on the opposite side.
  The Thriller was designed by Herbert Paul Schmeck and Howard Stoneback. Also built by Philadelphia Toboggan Company, the ride premiered in 1924 and survived until the park's closure. The Thriller featured an "out and back" track design and cost $90,000 to build.
caption: A picture of Euclid Beach Park taken some time between 1895 and 1910
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