Puritas Springs Park / The Cyclone Roller Coaster

Side A: Puritas Mineral Spring Company bottled and sold mineral water from the natural springs in the area. In 1894, the Cleveland and Berea Street Railway bought Puritas Springs and expanded the area into a picnic grove with a dance hall and pavilion to increase passenger traffic on the inter-urban line. Puritas Springs Park opened June 10, 1900- the first day the railways operated all the way to the entrance gates. John E. Gooding bought Puritas Springs in June 1915 and added and indoor roller rink, amusement rides, and the mighty Cyclone roller coaster. Labor Day 1958 the park closed, and on May 9, 1059 a fire destroyed many parts of the abondoned park. Side B: In 1927, John A. Miller, a famed roller coaster designer, built an unrivaled coaster at Puritas Springs Park which took advantage of its location at the edge of the Rocky River Valley. Opening June 10, 1928, the Cyclone was seen by patrons as one of the tallest and fastest coasters in Northern Ohio. Riders plunged 87 feet into the ravine on a winding course, careening through trees and around the cliff’s edge, which intensified the hills, turns, and dips. Reports that many were killed on the Cyclone are false, although on inebriated rider fell from the coaster in 1953 and died. The high cost of the maintenance forced the closing of the Cyclone in 1956 and it is on the Smithsonian Institution’s list of Great Lost Roller Coasters.