LeSourdsville Lake's Rides Continue To Thrill

By Eric Robinette
Middletown Journal
March 3, 2008

MONROE — LeSourdsville Lake has been closed for nearly six years, but the park's fans can still get the experience of the park piecemeal — if they're willing to drive.

Many of the rides at LeSourdsville Lake, also formerly known as Americana, have been sold and have popped up at amusement parks around the country, most recently at the Kokomo Family Fun Center near Saginaw, Mich., which is installing the Serpent, the steel roller coaster that used to be near LeSourdsville's entrance.

Jerry Couch, who owns the park property on Ohio 4 near the Ohio 63 interchange, began selling the rides after he decided not to reopen the historic park.

Scott Fowler, a historian for local amusement parks who maintains an unofficial Web Site devoted to the park — americanaamusementpark.com — said he's grateful some of LeSourdsville's attractions live on.

A few rides didn't go far. The Country Bear Jubilee animatronics at the park from 1978-993 went south on Ohio 4 to Jungle Jim's International Market in Fairfield. The Rock-o-Plane, at the park from the 1940s until 2002, resides at Coney Island in Cincinnati.

A number of rides are still at the park, including the Screechin' Eagle wooden roller coaster. It is possible that coaster, which moved from Zanesville to LeSourdsville in 1938, could move as well.

Couch said the coaster could still be operable despite sitting dormant since 2002.

The park, which opened in 1922, operated continuously until 1999, when then-owner Park River Corp. announced LeSourdsville Lake was closing due to declining attendance. Couch purchased it and opened it for one season in 2002, until the operation was plagued by financial problems.