Silver Lake Park

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, Summit County, Ohio, had many popular summer resorts. One of the most picturesque was Silver Lake Park. From its humble beginnings as a fishing, boating, swimming, and picnic spot, the resort grew to become one of Ohio’s most beloved amusement parks. It was known by some as “the Coney Island of the West.” In this view, boaters pose jauntily by the shore of Silver Lake. (Author’s collection.)

From the mid-1870s until its final season in 1917, Silver Lake Park operated in an area of northeast Ohio known as Stow Township. Although this 1874 map shows the name Silver Lake, the body of water was originally called Stow Lake or Wetmore’s Pond in honor of Joshua Stow and William Wetmore, two Connecticut men who helped establish the township in the early 1800s. According to a letter from a woman who was there, Wetmore’s Pond was unofficially renamed Silver Lake on one moonlit evening in the 1850s. As two young couples took a carriage ride past the lake, one of the boys in the party inquired about it. Upon hearing its original name he reportedly proclaimed, “Nevermore, but henceforth and forever, Silver Lake, shall it be called, and dire penalty fall upon anyone failing to give it this name.” The two girls in the party later conveyed this youthful decision to a farmer who lived along the lake. Old habits die hard, however, and locals still continued to call it Stow Lake for many years. (Author’s collection.)

Silver Lake is a beautiful spring-fed body of water of approximately 100 acres. For many years prior to the creation of the amusement park, local residents had been stopping by the lake to fish or swim. This 1870s view, taken by photographer Henry L. Shumway of Cuyahoga Falls, shows the lakeshore. (Author’s collection.)

Silver Lake was so scenic that it captured the attention of local and national photographers. A stereo view artist identified only as “Gates” captured this view of boaters on the lake in the 1880s. Gates produced several additional scenes of this charming lakeside attraction. Artists also enjoyed sketching various features of the park. (Author’s collection.)

Silver Lake Park founder Ralph Hugh Lodge first got the idea to purchase Silver Lake when he was a teenager. In the summer of 1846, after helping his father, George, perform masonry work at the nearby Thorndyke family home (seen here), 16-year-old Ralph would cross the road to enjoy a relaxing swim in the lake’s rippling waters. (Mary Lou Van Sise collection.)

In addition to the Thorndyke home, George Lodge performed masonry work on several of the area’s most impressive dwellings, including the Sill mansion on Front Street in Cuyahoga Falls. According to one biography, the elder Lodge was particularly proud to have worked on the home’s stone walls and fence. (Author’s collection.)

George Lodge is also reported to have worked on the home of Henry Newberry, whose family helped found the community of Cuyahoga Falls. The Newberry home was an imposing structure built on a hill. In later years, it became the Fair Oaks Villa sanitarium, seen above. (Author’s collection.)

Before establishing Silver Lake Park, Ralph H. Lodge worked at several different jobs. At one point, he was employed in the shops of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad. Later, he was a market gardener and ran a grocery store and meat market in Cleveland. His brother George sold produce and other groceries at this store, located near Cleveland’s Public Square. (George F. Lodge collection.)

Matthew Crawford, a nationally noted horticulturist from Cuyahoga Falls, received his initial training in the budding and hybridization of fruits and other plants while working at the Lodge farm in Cleveland. Years later, Crawford would become known throughout the country for his ability to cultivate or develop new varieties of strawberries and gladioli. (Author’s collection.)

In 1874, Ralph Lodge realized a long-held dream by purchasing Silver Lake and approximately 35 additional acres on its southwestern shore to establish a home and farm. One of the first things he did was plant approximately 1,000 maple saplings on the property. This bemused area residents, who thought he was ruining property better suited for a wheat field. This photograph shows an early building at the park. (Author’s collection.)

While the farm he established at Silver Lake was initially the family’s primary source of income, Lodge saw the potential to earn additional money by charging local residents a fee to use the lake. Lodge told his father he could envision the day when he might earn up to $100 a day at the park. Later, at the height of its popularity, the park was earning several thousand dollars a day. The deed seen here is for the initial purchase of the lake itself; the additional 35 acres on the southwest shore were acquired in a separate transaction. Over the following decades, the Lodges continued to acquire additional acreage around the lake, until the park encompassed approximately 600 acres. A descendant of the Lodge family has an entire box of old deeds detailing the various properties purchased for the park. (George F. Lodge collection.)

Although some area residents scoffed at Lodge’s purchase of the lake, his idea to create a park along its shores was not as far-fetched as some imagined. In the 1870s, several enterprising individuals established successful summer resorts nearby, including High Bridge Glens and Caves in Cuyahoga Falls. The Glens park, located along the Cuyahoga River, was known for its stunning scenery and its roller coaster, possibly one of the first in the country. (Author’s collection.)

The Gorge, located downstream from High Bridge Glens, was another well-loved area resort. The park featured hiking and picnic areas, a large cavern known as Old Maid’s Kitchen, and the beautiful Big Falls of the Cuyahoga River. Visitors had been coming to the Gorge since the mid-1800s to commune with nature. (Author’s collection.)

To accommodate the many visitors to the Gorge, David and Mary Fosdick opened the Big Falls Hotel on the street level above Old Maid’s Kitchen. The hotel was famous throughout northeast Ohio for its chicken dinners. The building was destroyed in a fire in 1910 and never reopened. In later years, Mary Fosdick brought her culinary skills to Silver Lake’s Gaylord Inn. (Author’s collection.)

Another highly frequented resort just a short distance from Silver Lake was Gaylord’s Grove. This area, located northeast of North Front Street and Bailey Road, was known for its picnic, croquet, and baseball grounds as well as its steamboat and rowboat rides on the Cuyahoga River. One of the steamers from Gaylord’s Grove was later moved to Silver Lake. (Author’s collection.)

Due to the popularity of these resorts, railway lines established excursion stops in Cuyahoga Falls. Many out-of-town visitors who traveled to the Glens or Gaylord’s Grove inevitably heard about Silver Lake Park and decided to enjoy its attractions as well. They then returned home and told others about the park, thereby increasing awareness of Silver Lake throughout Ohio. The resulting influx of tourists made it feasible for the Lodges to expand their park’s offerings. (Author’s collection.)

This early handbill advertises Silver Lake Park’s many amenities, including its steamer, rowboats, and swimming facilities, which are described as “unsurpassed in Northern Ohio.” The two young couples who renamed the lake “Silver Lake” in the mid-1800s were inspired both by the way the lake shimmered in the moonlight, as well as by a well-known folk tune describing a silvery moon that guided travelers on their way. (Cuyahoga Falls Library.)