“Where the coaster was, it’s not there. The skyline of the park is clear, let’s put it that way,” Fowler said.
Park owner Jerry Couch, who runs the RV dealership at the park site, said Friday he had safety concerns about the coaster remaining standing, and that parts of the track and the cars will be donated to a roller coaster museum.
That museum is the National Roller Coaster Museum & Archives, based in Arlington, Texas, said William Robinson, the former vice president of operations and marketing for Americana. Robinson now owns an marketing company for small amusement parks.
For several years, Robinson has looked for a way to preserve the roller coaster and had hoped to move it to a park in Chattanooga, Tenn. called Lake Winnepesaukah.
“Because of all the changes in the laws, when you move a coaster, it has to be built to (new) specifications. It would have been cheaper just to take it down and build a new one,” Robinson said.
Therefore, he decided it was best to keep the memory of the old coaster alive.
Couch said, “I can’t keep people from breaking in the park. I was worried about something terrible happening to someone,” Couch said.
“He (Couch) did the right thing by tearing it down,” Robinson said.
The park, built in 1922, went through several ownership changes before Couch bought it in 2000, closing it after running it for one season in 2002. The coaster has not operated since.
The coaster was originally built by John Miller for a park in Zanesville, Ohio. The coaster, then called the Cyclone, moved to LeSourdsville in 1940, according to Fowler’s book “LeSourdsville Lake Amusement Park,” published last year. The coaster was later called the Space Rocket, then the Screechin’ Eagle and was well-regarded by coaster fans.
Fowler was saddened but not surprised by the Eagle’s demise.
“Considering it hadn’t been maintained since 2002, it was probably due to come down ... it was one of the landmarks of the park.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2836 or erobinette@coxohio.com.
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