Past and present

Have to hand it to Stevensville Lawn Service, the company that is constructing the Erie Beach section of the Friendship Trail. Along the way, wherever possible, they have preserved elements of the old promenade. And where they've found some of the few guard rails/lamp posts that remain, they've incorporated them into the trail. Nice work.

The above and below photos, taken Friday, also shows the progress of the work being done at the east end of the promenade, where the rubble had to be sorted -- large blocks of the old concrete are being used to reinforce the new section and also act as steps to the waterfront -- and a new base is being installed.

Ticket to ride

Ken dug into his collection of old roller coaster photos and passed along this beauty of the Wildcat.

The fountain

Remains of the electric fountain from the Erie Beach Amusement Park were somewhat hidden for a long time, but in recent years have been dug out and used as a fire pit by those who have fun in the woods after the sun goes down. The above photo, taken by Doug Garner in the 1980s, shows how the centre portion of the fountain, installed pre-1920, was filled in with weeds and small trees at the time. When compared to photo below, taken in July, it also shows how thick the trees have grown in during the last two decades.



Below, you get an idea of what the fountain looked like in its heyday.





The above photo, taken from the opposite angle of the first three, shows the fountain near the middle on the right side, giving you an idea of where it is located next to the promenade just east of where the old dance hall stood.

Can't recall off the top of my head if the rest of the concrete is around there (it must be). Next time I am down there I plan to move some dirt around and see what's buried under there.

How low can it go?

The water level at the east end of Lake Erie is lower than I ever recall seeing it. I recall when the water where that mid-sized dog is standing, in this photo from Saturday, was usually at least six feet deep and only the tops of those rocks were visible.

Nearly there

Construction at the west end of the old promenade is nearly complete. The cement is is place, just a little work on the boardwalk at Waverly Beach remains. Work on the east end, though, where there was no concrete base left to work on, continues slowly. What is done looks great -- and what is to come will no doubt look as good. It should be completed in mid-October.

Half-way there

Well, maybe not half way but there is a lot of progress on the Friendship Trail. This 10-foot wide section of cement was poured Tuesday along the stretch of the old promenade which passed the dance hall.

Down at the dance hall

A friend of the family has some old video, circa 1960, of their time living in the Waverly Beach area. This short section shows the dance hall, long after it had closed but while it was still standing.

For those who have never seen it before, this is what your parents are talking about. For those who remember it, enjoy!

Wild ride at Erie Beach

It's hard to believe now, but Fort Erie once boasted one of the most popular amusement parks in Canada.

Until it suddenly closed near the beginning of the Great Depression, Erie Beach Amusement Park was the top attraction in Niagara outside of the Falls.

But that was a much different time. Long before air conditioning and television, or even a family car, summer escapes to shoreline resorts were the highlight of summer for many people.

With its beautiful picnic groves, luxury hotel, expansive midway, giant outdoor pool and a three-storey structure which housed a dance hall and bowling alley, Erie Beach was a wildly popular destination for families from Buffalo and beyond.

"Everybody used to come from all over to go there because it was the best around," said Mavis Burger (nee Colman).

"Crystal Beach didn't have anything to compare."

CONTINUE

source: Fort Erie Post/Niagara This Week

Friendship Trail work

Brought my video camera down to the old park yesterday to show the progress of the trail being constructed along the path of the old promenade (wish I would have captured video of the site earlier this year ... or many years ago). The first scene shows the Bardol Road end of the promenade, where a lookout point is being installed at the very west end of the trail before it turns up toward the end of Lakeshore Road. The second part of the clip shows the Waverly Beach end and the foundation of the boardwalk laid down so far. (Notice the decaying motor boat pier, or baby pier, and giant swimming pool in the background).

The trail, with three lookout points in total, should be complete in October.

Residents happy trail work underway

FORT ERIE -- Construction on the final section of the Friendship Trail, following the century-old promenade left over from the days of the Erie Beach Amusement Park, is getting thumbs up from area residents, Niagara This Week writes.

Amazing Wildcat video

Have never seen this before. No idea any footage from Erie Beach Amusement Park existed, let alone a ride on the Wildcat. Amazing.

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.