Facelift

Work began this week on the cleanup of the promenade in preparation for the section of the Friendship Trail which will soon pass through the old park at Erie Beach. The facelift should be complete in early October.

The world's largest outdoor dance floor

At one time, Erie Beach Park had what was billed as the largest outdoor dance floor in the world. The giant concrete pad, located beside the wading pool on the east side of the dance hall/casino, featured a large bandshell along the water and, according to some books on the park, was the area where movies were shown on a large screen toward the end of the park's life.

Below is a look back today across the concrete pad from the south east corner (dance hall rubble is located in the upper left).

The sands of time

Sand piles up along the edge of the old promenade near the former dance hall site. The area will look different in a couple of months as the old concrete walkway is being transformed as part of work to create the final section of the Town of Fort Erie's Friendship Trail. No doubt the last of the remaining concrete posts will be removed in the process and some of the other debris in the area will be cleared out.

Who was Pete?

Noticed this -- a small pile of stones, much like a grave marker, with R.I.P. Pete sprayed on a flat surface -- on my last trip down to the promenade. Like the big dark rock, it may have been there for years but I had not noticed, or it did not catch my eye.

Across from the memorial, on a small piece of retaining wall left over from the promenade, the words "And he's buying a SWTH (stairway to heaven)" are sprayed in the same black paint.

That's where it went ...

With the low water levels at this end of Lake Erie, it's easy to spot some of the stuff which has been dumped into the drink over the years, such as these concrete posts from the promenade.

A ghost from the past?

A pleasure boat passes the old steamship pier as it heads out of Lake Erie and into the Niagara River. In the early part of the 20th century ships would dock at the end of the pier (the furthest portion of the broken-down cement structure is obscured behind the brush growing in the upper right) as they transported thousands of people each day to the Erie Beach Amusement Park.

Blink and you'll miss something

It's funny how the eye, or the brain, works. I've been down to the old park several times in recent months, photographing the area from every angle, looking for things I may have missed. Today, this boulder next to the promenade about halfway between the dance hall and the pier stands out like a sore thumb.

Have to look through photos from other recent trips and see if it is even there. Perhaps it is just a new face on an old rock, making it stand out.

Down at the old Erie Beach Amusement Park ruins, it's almost like Bits and Bites -- you get a different eyeful every time.

I don't think it's the one that Thomas writes about here, but exactly how does a big round boulder get to such a place?

Come to think of it, I remember another giant boulder near where we swam (wouldn't do that today) in the area west of the pier. Who moved that?

Remember the Pavilion?

This was a little (a lot) before my time. Does anyone remember the Pavilion?

Who was Shane?

Was away from Fort Erie for many years, so I don't know the significance of this memorial. Who was Shane (Red Dog) Hookey? Who is Laurie S.?

Also, the swing ride foundation is in the background, further to the east, so what ride were these pillars part of?

(update: according to Bob Byledbal's Erie Beach Revisited, the pillars supported a short bridge fro the promenade to the Slide Tower, a Dutch windmill-shaped structure, sans blades, which stood 35 feet high and had a slide winding around its girth)

Decades of destruction

The old pier which was used as a landing for steamships full of American visitors falls apart more each year, battered by the elements. The force of Mother Nature can be seen in the crumpled concrete and twisted re-bar rising from the remains.

Beachcombers

People drop things. Lots of things they drop are metallic. People love finding things. Lots of people have metal detectors.

There certainly is a lot to find in the area of the old fort and old amusement park. Musket balls, arrowheads, even bones. Have you found anything of special interest while combing the ruins with a metal detector? I'd love to hear from you.

The way it was

A 1911 photo of the dance hall/casino, facing east.

'Buffalo's Million Dollar Park'

This is what the park was supposed to look like, according to a 1910 map posted by Western New York Heritage Press. Some things certainly never happened, like the homes on Club Boulevard and the bathing beach in front of the dance hall.

Wild ride

In the latter years of the park, a Wildcat roller coaster was installed around where the lagoon is currently on the site, not far from Bardol Avenue. If you look closely at the photo above, available for purchase on eBay (nothing to do with me), you can see homes on Bardol as they appeared in the late 1920s.

If you click on the colour photo below you can see several photos of a Wildcat located at Hersheypark Amusement Park in Pennsylvania. There are also a number of videos of various Wild Cat coasters to give you an idea of what a ride on the giant wooden roller coaster would have been like (note that there appear to be various designs using the Wildcat name over the years).

There are still a few people around who rode the Erie Beach Wildcat -- if you are one of them please email me.

Crumblin' tumblin'

Can't vouch for it myself, but general consensus calls these concrete supports the remains of a Tumble Bug ride. Anyone know for sure? I'd appreciate any details.

The Flat Joint has a couple of photos of a Tumble Bug, and you can see one in action below:

Low, low tide

With the low Lake Erie water levels of late it is not much of a challenge to reach the furthest section of the old steamship pier.

Trail to replace old promenade

Fort Erie council voted Monday to approve a $600,000 project through the old Erie Beach Amusement Park which completes the Frienship Trail through the town. Work on the trail section, which will follow the concrete promenade along the shoreline, is scheduled to begin Aug. 7. A 40-metre section of the trail will recreate the look of the old promenade, which ran from the concrete pier near Bardol Road in the west to Waverly Beach in the east.

Do you remember what the promenade was like before sections started turning back to stone and sand? Send me an email or post a comment below.

Walk on the shore

A young couple walk along the edge of what was once a huge outdoor dance floor and bandshell at Erie Beach Amusement Park. The large blocks along the water a part of the wall which ran the length of the south end of the area. The final section of Fort Erie's Friendship Trail will be constructed this year along the old promenade, part of which runs along the tree line in the background.

Step back in time

Looking east (and slightly north) from the front of old dance hall, with the electric fountain, now used as a firepit by partyers, visible in the background. Today the entire area is covered by trees and brush, though portions of the concrete paths remain.

Casino or dance hall?

If you grew up in Fort Erie, you probably called the old three-storey structure on the promenade the "old dance hall." But it was generally referred to as the "casino" back in the day. Which do you prefer? Send me an email or leave a comment below.

It ain't pretty

A brown algae-sludge of some sort lies on the surface of the still water west of the old pier.