Ontario Beach Park

A definitive history of Ontario Beach Park has yet to be written. The history seems to be divided into two parts. One dating from the early hotels, the founding of the Lake Ontario Beach Improvement Company and running to the 1906 redevelopment. The other dating from the 1907 reopening which added a mid-way and changed the park into a Coney Island type attraction. An article in the Rochester Herald, April 20, 1920 is a good start.

The article is on two newspaper pages. Both have been copied as pdf's which can be enlarged for reading. Two later articles in the Rochester Herald show the park transformed into a place we might recognize today. The pictures are from microfilm and are poor quality.

The post 1907 park was the type inspired by the Midway at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. These parks were sometimes called White City. They appeared in the early 1900's but were no long lasting.