The Moon Rocket at Cedar Point

Long before NASA was established, and men landed on the moon, people were curious about outer space. To aid this curiosity, in 1946 the Moon Rocket ride opened at Cedar Point. (It only remained for a few seasons; apparently people had learned enough about space travel.) An article in the June 13, 1946 issue of the Sandusky Register Star News reported that other features of the 1946 Cedar Point season included many “big bands” in the Cedar Point Ballroom, a fun house, renovations to the Hotel Breakers lobby and soda grill, and a fresh coat of paint and new lifeboats for the G.A. Boeckling.

To read a more about the history of Cedar Point, see the book Cedar Point: The Queen of American Watering Places, by David W. and Diane DeMali Francis (Amusement Park Books, 1995), available at the Sandusky Library. 

Summertime in Vacationland

For decades, the pleasant summer weather in the Lake Erie Islands region has provided a terrific spot for local residents and tourists to spend some leisure time. Here are just a few images from the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center that capture some of those moments. Above is a snapshot of swimmers and boaters at Marblehead in 1957. Below is a picture of Ruth Beach, Verna Bornhauser, and Helen Rheinegger, at the Hotel Victory swimming pool in the summer of 1919.

The guests at Cedar Point in 1946 were walking along the Moon Rocket ride, long before Apollo 11 landed on the moon in July of 1969. In the 1940s visitors to the amusement park dressed much less casual than today’s visitors. This attraction was only at Cedar Point for a few seasons.

             

Notes that were attached to the original picture indicate that these people were fishing at the Bay Bridge Beach in June 1923. What a catch!

    

You can see the enthusiasm of the youngsters getting off the train in downtown Sandusky about 1940. Perhaps they were getting ready to board a boat to one of Lake Erie Islands.

     

View many more historical pictures from Sandusky and Erie County at the Sandusky Library Local History Archives online.