Both images are my photographs of the same scene — one in rich, natural color, one in black and white. The color version catches it as my eye saw it that spring afternoon: the pale sky, the soft greens of new growth, the rust-warmed steel of the old wheel. The black and white speaks a different language entirely, stripping the moment down to variations of light and structure, and giving the Ferris wheel the timeless, almost cinematic quality it deserves. Together, they offer two ways to feel the same thing. Choose the one that speaks to your memory — or display both.

Either image will remind anyone who ever set foot inside Chippewa Lake Amusement Park of exactly why that place held such a grip on the heart of Northeast Ohio.

What began as a modest “pleasure resort” offering fishing, swimming, camping, and relaxation evolved by 1878 into a full amusement park on the shores of Chippewa Lake in Lafayette Township. For nearly a century, it was Medina County’s answer to Cedar Point — a place where families arrived first by train and Interurban rail, and later by car, escaping the summer heat of Akron, Cleveland, Canton, and Wooster for the thrill of the midway and the cool of the lake breeze.

From the top of the Ferris wheel, riders could see out over the whole of the lake. Think about that for a moment. A warm summer evening, the park alive below you, the water glittering beyond the treetops. It’s a memory that belongs to thousands of Ohioans — and these photographs evoke it completely.

The park offered everything from Putt-Putt boats and Miss Chippewa lake cruises to dodgems, penny arcades, and carnival games along the midway. Evening ballroom dancing drew crowds who swayed to the Big Band sounds of Lawrence Welk, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, and the Dorsey brothers — with a young Frank Sinatra along for the ride. In later years, rock and roll acts like Tommy James and the Shondells, Neil Diamond, Herman’s Hermits, and Paul Revere and the Raiders took the stage. Medina County schools even closed for one day each spring for “Nickel Day,” a much-anticipated tradition fondly remembered by generations of local students.

It all came to an end when the park closed for the season in 1978 and never reopened. The buildings were left to the elements. Locals took roller coaster cars and ticket booths as keepsakes; much of the rest was destroyed by arson. Nature, as it always does, moved in to fill the silence.

And yet the Ferris wheel stood. It stands still.

These photographs display that resilience in a way no words fully can. Hang one — or both — in your home or office, and they become a conversation: a window into the Ohio that your parents, grandparents, and neighbors still carry in their memories. They are the kind of images that stop people mid-sentence, prompt a smile, and bring a story tumbling out.

The property now belongs to the Medina County Park District, which acquired the former amusement park site in 2020 and has been working steadily toward bringing it back to life as a public space. That vision is already becoming real. As of May 15, 2026 the Tumble Bug Trailhead — the first phase of development — opened to the public, featuring a parking area, restrooms, a picnic shelter, and a half-mile accessible gravel loop trail. The Park District is also partnering with the Chippewa Lake Historical Society, which will operate a museum at the site, preserving and sharing the rich history of the beloved park and surrounding community.

A future phase of development will lead visitors to the old Ferris wheel itself — the very structure I photographed. That area remains closed and in the planning stages for now, but the day is coming when the public will stand at its base and look up the way you’re looking at these photographs.

Until then, these images are your pass. Let them remind you of what was, and let them hang as proof that some things can endure in memories and where they once thrived.