Willow Beach Roller Rink Toledo OH. Sticker at the time. Source: Dead-Rinks Copyrighted Digitally Remastered by Dead-Rinks (redo sticker over original that was faded and smeared).
Willow Beach Roller Rink Toledo OH. You can easily see the dance hall/roller rink building in the background that the photographer took when he was on top of the roller coaster. Source: Cullen Park/Toledo Lucas County Public Library.
Willow Beach Roller Rink Toledo OH. Sheet 19. Simple map drawn, not drafting drawing because it had no sheet borders and box on the lower right side which is mandatory in all drafting even CAD. The roller rink was part of the dance pavilion. Can you find it? Large looking rectangular building near the top center of this drawing. Source: Toledo Lucas County Public Library.
Willow Beach Roller Rink Toledo OH. Actual Sheet number 5. Left and Right Elevations and half sections. Source: Toledo Lucas County Public Library.
Willow Beach Roller Rink Toledo OH. Actual Sheet number 4. Front and Back Elevations plus Front Half Section Elevation seen in right side of the Vellum blue print. As a Drafter myself, that is a no-no. Never do partial of the drawing right to the border of the drawing. It should have been displayed on a new sheet. Source: Toledo Lucas County Public Library.
Willow Beach Roller Rink Toledo OH. Actual Sheet number 3. Roof and Trusses plan. Source: Toledo Lucas County Public Library.
Willow Beach Roller Rink Toledo OH. Actual Sheet number 2. Floor plan. Source: Toledo Lucas County Public Library.
Willow Beach Roller Rink Toledo OH. Actual Sheet number 1. Foundation plan. Source: Toledo Lucas County Public Library.
Willow Beach Roller Rink Toledo OH. Actual Sheet number W -1 which means Wire-1. Wiring plan. Source: Toledo Lucas County Public Library.
Willow Beach Roller Rink Willow Beach Amusement Park, Toledo OH
Willow Beach Roller Rink was a rink at Willow Beach Amusement Park in Toledo Ohio. Its beginning was in 1929 by the operator named Jimmy Hays. This was later late start in this time period for a local amusement park because most parks began in 1895 to 1910 because of trolleys/interurban, and ferries were available by rail and power companies.
1929 was also the year of the Great Depression caused by the Stock Market Crash in the Fall of 1929. So, it survived but had a major setback by that Great Depression but also had a fire in 1932. The park operators let their lease lapsed in 1934. It was reversed back to the landowner, Frank Lax who operated the park for the rest of the park's history.
It seems nothing would stop the park until one of the patrons, a 17 years old girl who just graduated from high school was killed in a riding accident at the park which nailed shut the park in 1949 because they never recovered from that tragedy, well passed the Great Depression and World War II. The disasters before the death did not stop the park. It had to take a person's life to end the park.
Gambling was legal at the park until 1937, when the land was annexed into Toledo which ended due to the local laws. Somewhat did hurt the park.
There were other operators too. According to Billboard on 17 June 1944, page 44, 5th Column, the same month the Normandy Invasion of the Allies against the Axis reached Normandy, France. The article was published. The operators were Mr. and Mrs. William Davis. Johnny Free was the rink manager.
In 1954, The City of Toledo bought 15 acres of the abandoned amusement park property for $50,000. It became a boating and fishing area. The seaplane ramp was converted into a boat launch. The park and marina were named Cullen Park after Edward D. Cullen, a Toledo city councilman from 1917-1922. Cullen Park is still operational today.
The Jokel and Lange architectural firm of Toledo was the firm for designing the layout for Willow Beach Amusement Park, as well as designing many buildings and booths. The firm itself was operating from 1925 to 1933 and designed a wide array of residential and commercial buildings in the Toledo area. Short lived? Must be the partners broke up.
The roller rink was part of the dance hall. See the map where it was. it was right by the water as everything else were on the other side of the path. See Map.
WHAT A FIND! The Toledo Lucas County Public Library has the blue prints of the rink on their site! Check it out by clicking the name of the library, it will direct you to the architectural drafting of the Dance Hall where the roller rink was. See the two drawings I found. I did not check the rest because are many drawings for many buildings. Drawing number The drafting was done in February 1929.
The Interior.
The floor was made for Dance Hall but also for the Roller Rink. The main dance floor/roller rink had Non-painted Hardwood Maple with two coats of Lignaphol Wax, a predecessor to Polyurethane plastic coating.
It had a lot of wood posts surrounding the Maple floor for supporting the wide and long Steel Trusses (see sheet numbers 2 and 3). It was very common for rinks to have such design back the day.
The size is rather on the upper end of small size, close to medium size. Maybe the small modicum size. it was almost as wide as an NHL rink but half the length. They may have known about the largest rink in Ohio that was built in 1905 and had other rinks too, the Coliseum on Ashland at Bancroft in the same town, Toledo, Ohio comes to mind.
They had a lot of window for ample light to pernitrate in the building because of the lights they had in 1920s, 30s, and 40s. Many dance halls and roller rinks were of this calibrator at the time with the design with a lot of lights coming in during the day and soft lights at evenings. .
The Exterior.
It was a mix Monitor Roof designed with Hip or Bonnett roof wrap around all-Steel Trusses with Wood or Cinderblocks built. It was built by the edge of the park corner by the water.
The Stats:
Rink Size: 60' x 100' Floor: Likely Maple. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: 12,056 SF. (Source: DWG sheet 17) Built: 1929. Renovations: N/A. Demolished: 1947.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Trusses Wood - Walled Arena - like Building. See Drawings. (Start with Sheet 14 thru 19).
Roof: Mixed Monitor with Hip and Gable. See Drawings.
Acres: N/A.
Operated: (Overall)-- 1929 to 1949.
Reason for Closure: Death of a patron from a riding accident.
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/closed, Also photos/articles. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at [email protected]. Thank you. You can also use this form.
Sources:
Toledo Lucas County Public Library - Very brief history about the park.
Architectural Drafting - Sheet 14 through 19. (Rest of the amusement park, you can go back to Sheet 1 if desired).
Cullen Park - Pictures of the old park (photos from Toledo Lucas County Public Library).
Toledo Blade (you will never get to read unless you are paid member. Forget the link to the site but here is my observation and rewritten!) Published 16 June 2014. Its in PDF format.
Billboard - 17 June 1944, page 44, 4th Column.
Note: The drafting drawings when you go on to the website, it is hard to see and you have to zoom it in to see better. I photoshopped to make it darker for me to see. Those days, they used pencils and because of age, it fades because of lead in the pencils. Later in 20th Century from 1950s to 2000, they use ballpoint pens to do manual drafting. Please click link to learn more about manual drafting. I love manual drafting. Experience since age 10 with my first client. Some used black drafting tape to do drawings (common at GE Electronic Parkway and automakers for human size vehicles in Detroit) before AutoCAD which was more common in the 1960s on. Manual drafting is out and they rely heavily on AutoCAD. Still the same printouts though through their plotters, not printers. Plotters are 15 inches or wider. Printers are 8 inches wide or up to 17 inches. Excellent historical view on drafting with photos, see here.
Date of issue: 06 November 2021.
.
For office use only: 9.
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 and 16.
1929 was also the year of the Great Depression caused by the Stock Market Crash in the Fall of 1929. So, it survived but had a major setback by that Great Depression but also had a fire in 1932. The park operators let their lease lapsed in 1934. It was reversed back to the landowner, Frank Lax who operated the park for the rest of the park's history.
It seems nothing would stop the park until one of the patrons, a 17 years old girl who just graduated from high school was killed in a riding accident at the park which nailed shut the park in 1949 because they never recovered from that tragedy, well passed the Great Depression and World War II. The disasters before the death did not stop the park. It had to take a person's life to end the park.
Gambling was legal at the park until 1937, when the land was annexed into Toledo which ended due to the local laws. Somewhat did hurt the park.
There were other operators too. According to Billboard on 17 June 1944, page 44, 5th Column, the same month the Normandy Invasion of the Allies against the Axis reached Normandy, France. The article was published. The operators were Mr. and Mrs. William Davis. Johnny Free was the rink manager.
In 1954, The City of Toledo bought 15 acres of the abandoned amusement park property for $50,000. It became a boating and fishing area. The seaplane ramp was converted into a boat launch. The park and marina were named Cullen Park after Edward D. Cullen, a Toledo city councilman from 1917-1922. Cullen Park is still operational today.
The Jokel and Lange architectural firm of Toledo was the firm for designing the layout for Willow Beach Amusement Park, as well as designing many buildings and booths. The firm itself was operating from 1925 to 1933 and designed a wide array of residential and commercial buildings in the Toledo area. Short lived? Must be the partners broke up.
The roller rink was part of the dance hall. See the map where it was. it was right by the water as everything else were on the other side of the path. See Map.
WHAT A FIND! The Toledo Lucas County Public Library has the blue prints of the rink on their site! Check it out by clicking the name of the library, it will direct you to the architectural drafting of the Dance Hall where the roller rink was. See the two drawings I found. I did not check the rest because are many drawings for many buildings. Drawing number The drafting was done in February 1929.
The Interior.
The floor was made for Dance Hall but also for the Roller Rink. The main dance floor/roller rink had Non-painted Hardwood Maple with two coats of Lignaphol Wax, a predecessor to Polyurethane plastic coating.
It had a lot of wood posts surrounding the Maple floor for supporting the wide and long Steel Trusses (see sheet numbers 2 and 3). It was very common for rinks to have such design back the day.
The size is rather on the upper end of small size, close to medium size. Maybe the small modicum size. it was almost as wide as an NHL rink but half the length. They may have known about the largest rink in Ohio that was built in 1905 and had other rinks too, the Coliseum on Ashland at Bancroft in the same town, Toledo, Ohio comes to mind.
They had a lot of window for ample light to pernitrate in the building because of the lights they had in 1920s, 30s, and 40s. Many dance halls and roller rinks were of this calibrator at the time with the design with a lot of lights coming in during the day and soft lights at evenings. .
The Exterior.
It was a mix Monitor Roof designed with Hip or Bonnett roof wrap around all-Steel Trusses with Wood or Cinderblocks built. It was built by the edge of the park corner by the water.
The Stats:
Rink Size: 60' x 100' Floor: Likely Maple. Floor Layout: N/A.
Building Size: 12,056 SF. (Source: DWG sheet 17) Built: 1929. Renovations: N/A. Demolished: 1947.
Type of Building: Free-Span Steel Trusses Wood - Walled Arena - like Building. See Drawings. (Start with Sheet 14 thru 19).
Roof: Mixed Monitor with Hip and Gable. See Drawings.
Acres: N/A.
Operated: (Overall)-- 1929 to 1949.
Reason for Closure: Death of a patron from a riding accident.
Wanted: Information regarding exact dates of open/closed, Also photos/articles. Anyone knows or have photos, please let me know by emailing at [email protected]. Thank you. You can also use this form.
Sources:
Toledo Lucas County Public Library - Very brief history about the park.
Architectural Drafting - Sheet 14 through 19. (Rest of the amusement park, you can go back to Sheet 1 if desired).
Cullen Park - Pictures of the old park (photos from Toledo Lucas County Public Library).
Toledo Blade (you will never get to read unless you are paid member. Forget the link to the site but here is my observation and rewritten!) Published 16 June 2014. Its in PDF format.
Billboard - 17 June 1944, page 44, 4th Column.
Note: The drafting drawings when you go on to the website, it is hard to see and you have to zoom it in to see better. I photoshopped to make it darker for me to see. Those days, they used pencils and because of age, it fades because of lead in the pencils. Later in 20th Century from 1950s to 2000, they use ballpoint pens to do manual drafting. Please click link to learn more about manual drafting. I love manual drafting. Experience since age 10 with my first client. Some used black drafting tape to do drawings (common at GE Electronic Parkway and automakers for human size vehicles in Detroit) before AutoCAD which was more common in the 1960s on. Manual drafting is out and they rely heavily on AutoCAD. Still the same printouts though through their plotters, not printers. Plotters are 15 inches or wider. Printers are 8 inches wide or up to 17 inches. Excellent historical view on drafting with photos, see here.
Date of issue: 06 November 2021.
.
For office use only: 9.
© Copyrighted by Dead-Rinks. All Rights Reserved. Jn 3:3 and 16.