Presque Isle Amusement Park, ca. 1890

Presque Isle Amusement Park, ca. 1890

Beginning in 1884, Presque Isle Amusement Park was developed on a peninsula near where the Maumee River meets Maumee Bay. The illustration above shows a restaurant, an amusement pavilion, a boat house and many other entertainments. Many visitors arrived by passenger ship from Toledo, a few miles upriver. In 1895 they even installed a Ferris wheel, just two years after the first Ferris wheel was constructed at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. They ran into competition from the Casino at Walbridge Park and Lake Erie Amusement Park, which were easier for Toledoans to visit and Presque Isle went out of business after 1900. Click here to learn more about the Lake Erie Amusement Park

Presque Isle eventually became the site of the Lakefront Docks. Click here to see coal dumpers at the Lakefront Docks.


We want to hear from you! Leave a comment below to tell us more about Presque Isle Park.

This exhibit is made possible by visitors like you.  Please consider making a donation to the National Museum of the Great Lakes to help us continue our important work of preserving and making know the history of the Great Lakes.