LeSourdsville Lake devotee keeps amusement park memories alive;
Fan recreated western town, restored cars at Springfield home

By Eric Robinette
Middletown Journal
April 26, 2005

The 83-year-old amusement park off Ohio 4 near the Ohio 63 interchange in Monroe is still very much alive, at least in the hearts and minds of its devoted fans. Many of them not only live outside the Middletown and Monroe borders, but have found imaginative ways to relive their days in the park, which also was known as Americana.

Kevin Miller, 40, of Springfield is such a devotee of small amusement parks that he has recreated a small western town on his property. He’s restoring one of the old turnpike cars made under the supervision of LeSourdsville’s founder, Edgar Streifthau, who went on to create the park for young kids, Fantasy Farm, that was once right next door to LeSourdsville Lake. Miller found the car in West Milton and even discovered that he and the car have roughly the same birthday: April 1965.

“I have fond memories of both parks, and I’m very much interested in that sort of thing. I’m also a frustrated park owner,” he said, referring to his home-grown creations.

He especially gravitates toward smaller parks, he admits, “partly because I’m too chicken to get on anything that’s too big and too fast.”

While Miller understands that it would take time for LeSourdsville to get back in business, “I’d like to see it open as soon as possible ... it would have to go back to its place in this world and bring in picnics. You have to promote it well, with middle-of-the-road rides. It’s never going to be a theme park, and I wouldn’t want it to be,” he said.

Park owner Jerry Couch purchased Americana in 2000 from Park River Corporation, which closed it after the 1999 season. It reopened in 2002 and reverted to its original LeSourdsville name. But the season was cut short amid financial problems stemming from the bankruptcy of the Lancaster-based Pugh family hired as its operator. Several rides in the park were later repossessed.

The park has been closed ever since. Couch said last year he would make an effort to reopen the park, but made no promises and gave no time frame. He could not be reached for comment for this story.

Miller would gladly run the park if he had the money, he said. He’s especially fond of the section of the park called Logger’s Run, which contained a flume ride.

“If I could leave my job and just run the back half, I’d be all good,” he said.

Paul Drabek, 33, of Indiana has only been to the park once, when it was Americana in 1999. Even so, it made such an impression on him, he has recreated one famous part of it electronically.

A member of the American Coaster Enthusiasts club, Drabek has made a computer simulation of LeSourdsville’s Screechin’ Eagle roller coaster, which is highly regarded by coaster fans internationally. It can be viewed at his Web site, www.negative-g.com.

“I just like nice, small, family-run parks, and the Eagle is an incredible coaster,” Drabek said.

When asked what he liked about the Screechin’ Eagle, Drabek responded, “the insane air time,” referring to the way riders’ rears lift off the seats whenever the trains crest the hills.

“And it’s a classic coaster, built by John Miller, who was the Thomas Edison of coasters,” Drabek said. The Eagle was built in 1927 and moved to LeSourdsville in 1938. It was also known as the Cyclone and the Space Rocket, according to the park’s unofficial Web site, www.americanaamusementpark.com.

One of the most frequent visitors to that Web site is Cory Butcher of Miamisburg. Since he’s 17, Butcher doesn’t have the same nostalgia for the park’s glory days as other fans do, but he’s still fond of the place and is eager to see it open again. Butcher used to go with his family to AK Steel picnics at Americana, where he marked a milestone.

“The best thing I remember is waiting what seemed like forever to ride the Serpent when I was 10. It was my first roller coaster ride,” Butcher said. The Serpent is the small steel coaster toward the front of the park.

Like most teenagers, Butcher enjoys the high-voltage thrills of theme parks like Paramount’s Kings Island, but he has a particular affinity for small parks that are standing but not operating.

“I’m kind of into things you can fix up. ... I’ve been wanting to relive the times when I was younger and wanting to go back so bad,” he said.

If or when the park does reopen again, Butcher hopes more people know about it. He thinks the park’s advertising in 2002 was lacking.

“Nobody here knows of the park,” he said, referring to the south Dayton area. “The main thing they need is to get the word out.”

Butcher believes the much-discussed casino proposed for Monroe by the Shawnee Indian tribe, could be good for LeSourdesville.

“If a casino is a big tourist draw, they might have an immediate cash flow,” Butcher said.

Still, fans’ theories and ideas won’t open LeSourdsville Lake, says former park employee and Fairfield native Scott Fowler, who runs the unofficial Web site.

“It’s more of a feeling of being powerless rather than being in limbo,” Fowler said. “Despite all the great ideas the group (of fans) may have, we really have no control. From what I can gather, the rides seem to be in good shape, so the next step is to generate income for the park.”

However, buzz about the park’s fate has lately been “virtually non-existent,” Fowler said.

For now, the park’s fans will just have to wait and see.

“It’s kind of an annual event anymore. ‘Wishing and hoping,’ like the Dusty Springfield song,” said Fowler.

Begin your coaster thrills online

By Jan Perry
Cincinnati Post
April 8, 2005

You may know from past years that I love amusement parks generally, roller coasters specifically and, if you want to put a finer edge to it, old wooden coasters absolutely.