Site of old zoo/amusement park/zoo

[Monty]

Those of you who have been on the forum for a while will remember I did some hunting at this site last spring and didn't find much of anything.? It was opened in 1909 and attracted crowds from a hundred mile area at one time.? All but the lake and a small parcel of ground was turned into a housing addition several years ago.? Anyway the foundation of the old bath house still remains and I was running my ACE250 along the edge of the foundatin when I got a solid hit.? I? dug down 6" expecting rusted iron and came up with what looks like a solid brass saddle cinch. (Picture posted under What Is It).? The area where it was found would have been beneath the wooden deck of a pier leading out to the swimming diving area. How it got there?? Anyway,? when I first hunted this area I didn't have much experience so as I was only there less than an hour this trip I think it bears going back over.? I am working on getting permission to hunt the shallow water along the old simming beach.? The little park and lake now belongs to the City and is posted no swimming or wading.? I'm pretty sure I will be exempt by working with the curator of the City museum who is an old high school classmate.?This photo was taken in the 1920s of the main entrance. Monty

 

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[TimmyNY]

looks like it has potential. good luck and keep us posted

Timmy NY

 

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[Monty]

The water is pretty clear right now and I went back out there yesterday just to look around. There is a huge amount of very large cement chunks in the water right in front of the boat house but it is fairly shallow. As I recall when I use to go there in the 1950s it was about 12 feet deep in the diving platform area. It may have silted in but I'm pretty sure there are some deep holes remaining there. I plan to stay over in the shallows nearer the old beach area between the bathhouse and the diving platform. That's where most of the crowds congregated. This use to be a showplace, well maintained and popular. The whole family and people from miles around use to come out on the 4th of July and picnic and swim and shoot fireworks. Back then the zoo and amusement park was gone and there were only a few bison in a pasture adjacent to the picnic area. It was just the swimming hole, a huge fountain on top of the hill above and dozens of picnic tables. Now it's all a housing addition. What a shame. Monty

 

[ZumbroKid]

They had to drop something, keep us posted.

 

[hollowpointred]

hey monty,do you think it may be worth checking a couple of those yards in the housing division? did they remove or add a lot of soil when they built the houses?

 

[Proolio]

looks like i real nice place to hunt. hope it yields good finds. keep us posted

 

[Pennyworth]

Love the pictures and history of the site. I hope you find some goodies, good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Monty]

The houses are all built on concrete slabs which requires backfill. Before they built, they tore out all the old sidewalks and trails and graded and put in streets and utilities. If I found anything it would just be blind luck. It's about a 20 acre area with probably 100 houses! Not much incentive to look. Montyl