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Old Posted Jun 25, 2018, 2:24 PM
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xzmattzx xzmattzx is offline
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Abandoned Ontario: Erie Beach Amusement Park

Erie Beach Amusement Park was an amusement park in Fort Erie, Ontario, and was located along Lake Erie, about 3.5 kilometers (just over 2 miles) southwest of the Peace Bridge, and about 4 kilometers (about 2.5 miles) west across the Niagara River from Downtown Buffalo, New York. You can see the site of Erie Beach Amusement Park in Google Maps here.

The park began in 1885 as Snake Hill Grove, and was a simple picnic area in the woods along the lake. In 1887, rail service began from a dock at the foot of Bertie Street on the Buffalo & Fort Erie Ferry Railway, which continued until the day the amusement park closed. The railway was known by passengers as the "Sandfly Express". The park saw modest growth until 1910, when major rides were added, and a stadium and hotel were also built.

By the 1920s, Erie Beach was in decline. Crystal Beach Amusement Park, just a few miles west, was siphoning off visitors, who could now drive to Crystal Beach with the increased availability of automobiles. The last season of Erie Beach Amusement Park was 1930, a casualty of the stock market crash of 1929.

After the amusement park closed, rides were sold off, and most structures were torn down. The Hotel burned down in 1935. The Casino was torn down in 1976 after standing abandoned for decades and partially collapsing.

Today, much of the old amusement park is part of Waverly Beach Park. The park is accessed by taking Helena Street in Fort Erie south to the lakeshore. A concrete promenade was built in 2008 to go through the ruins of the amusement park, and to provide a lakeside walking and jogging path for residents.


Some original concrete posts are still extant along the promenade that starts in Waverly Beach Park. Electric lamps and flower baskets would've topped the posts.



Steps lead up into the woods towards where the Electric Fountain was located.



The Electric Fountain was built in 1911.



The Tumble Bug ride has concrete slabs with a 100-foot diameter, and a large cement block for the motor and spokes. The Tumble Bug was built in either 1926 or 1927. Two full-size Tumble Bug rides are still extant in the world, both in Pennsylvania.



The Plane Ride is one of the more distinctive remnants left.



The concrete columns were the base of the ride, of which airplane cars were hung from cables that swung out when the ride went around.



The Pier stuck out into Lake Erie about 1,000 feet, and provided access for ferries that brought patrons from Buffalo, which can be seen in the distance in this picture.



Trees and weeds have now taken over what is left of the pier.



The Pier was built in 1910.



An old sidewalk now leads through woods from one end of Waverly Beach Park to the other.



Steps now in the middle of the woods lead to foundations of the Lunch Counter, or Railway Station. The building was used as the station for the train coming from Fort Erie. When ferries later began transporting patrons to the park, this building was converted to a lunch room.



The foundation of a large building, which is still unidentified today.



This oak tree has outgrown the little flower garden that was built around it in 1910.



The old, original sidewalk is a few feet closer to lake level, and is more along the shoreline, than the promenade built in 2008.



The remnants of the Covered Pavilion sit along the promenade.



Interpretive plaques along the promenade highlight the history of the old amusement park. Modern concrete posts were styled after the original lamp posts.



The foundation of the Casino, built in 1910, sits next to the corner of the Swimming Pool, and is located along the former Bathing Beach.



The biggest remnant of the amusement park is the Swimming Pool. The walls of the pool stick out from Lake Erie.



The pool was built around 1920.



The Swimming Pool was billed by the amusement park as the largest outdoor pool in the world.



You can walk along the walls of the pool today to get a sense of the size of the pool, plus get less-obstructed views of Buffalo's skyline and lighthouses.



The pump station in the corner was where lake water was pumped into the pool, through jets at the bottom of the pool.



The west side of the Swimming Pool had an irregular shape.



The gutter system to prevent overflow is still visible along the inside walls of the pool.



These concrete pillars in the main section of Waverly Beach Park are likely the foundation for a water tower.



There are a few houses along Edgemere Road that date back to the early 1900s.



Mixed in with the old houses from the period are modern houses, which take advantage of the adjacent park and the lake views. A condominium project has been proposed for a large abandoned lot on Helena Street between Floyd Place and Edgemere Road.

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Old Posted Jun 25, 2018, 5:46 PM
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I like the view of Buffalo from there & interesting history although the ruins looks like something I'd expect to see on the U.S. side more so than Canada.
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Old Posted Jun 25, 2018, 7:38 PM
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Thank you for this!
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Old Posted Jun 25, 2018, 7:54 PM
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Yeah, it's not bad at all. They can do something serious of this thing.

Bois de Vincennes, anyone? It's close to my home, and you can ride cool horses there. It's a good feeling.

Not Bois de Boulogne or Forêt de Saint-Germain, huh!
Enslaved prostitutes in those latter nasty woods.
Prostition is officially illegal, for we don't like pimps enslaving women and trannies here.

Marijuana is yet better than prostitution. Certainly not worse than alcohol anyway, so we might legalize that thing at last.
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Old Posted Jun 26, 2018, 12:18 AM
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Nice catch of Buffalo skyline eh, again from Ontario, just like Detroit's from Windsor.

Gotta say best angle of Buffalo skyline.
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Old Posted Jul 28, 2022, 3:55 AM
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That's really neat and I had no idea.

Cheers
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Old Posted Aug 3, 2022, 12:43 AM
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It is incredible how certain developments fade into history so quickly!
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Old Posted Aug 3, 2022, 3:23 AM
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They've got a decent view of Buffalo!
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  #9  
Old Posted Aug 18, 2022, 5:04 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Urbanguy View Post
I like the view of Buffalo from there & interesting history although the ruins looks like something I'd expect to see on the U.S. side more so than Canada.
The Fort Erie area is a very odd area as it's history and even current day is heavily focused on vacationing Americans from Buffalo, in many ways its much more closely tied with Buffalo than with the rest of Niagara Region.

Crystal Beach, just a bit further east, is a wildly popular beach spot that most people in Ontario have never really heard of. A huge chunk of the beach-goers come from the other side of the border, as the beach is only a 30 minute drive from Downtown Buffalo. A lot of the vacation homes in the area are owned by Americans, the area's road infrastructure is designed to quickly get you to Buffalo, not Niagara Falls, etc.

Especially back in the day when the border was a lot more porous, taking a ferry across the river from Buffalo to the amusement park here would likely have been no problem at all. I imagine tourism into Niagara was especially popular during prohibition when Buffalonians were a quick ferry ride away from being allowed to drink to their hearts content.
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