Writing, rambling, and shouting at clouds

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The Life and Death of Geauga Lake Amusement Park

Do you have time for a tale? Sit back, relax, and dive into the interesting and timeless case of Geauga Lake, a tiny family park that started humbly enough, before rocketing overnight into international headlines by combining with a full-sized SeaWorld to create the world’s largest Six Flags.

A gargantuan park of mega-coasters, killer whales, dizzying flat rides, a Batman water ski show, dolphins, log flumes, Hurricane Harbor, and motion simulators for one price, Six Flags Worlds of Adventure was conceptually prepared to become the best theme park on Earth.

Theme Park Tourist 

I’ll admit: I visited Sea World with my family in the early 90s as a pre-teen, and so I don’t recall much about Geauga Lake. However, I was aware of Six Flags Worlds of Adventure while in college but never visited. I didn’t realize that it was the world’s largest amusement park for a short time. Even worse, I’m ashamed to admit that even as an Ohio citizen, I never knew it closed down over 12 years ago until reading this article.

Sit back, grab a drink, and read the incredible history of Geauga Lake Amusement Park.

Ned Skeldon Stadium

View of Lucas County Rec Center, formally Ned Skeldon Stadium in Fall of 2016

Once a racetrack for the Lucas County fairgrounds, Ned Skeldon Stadium originally opened as Lucas County Stadium to bring the Mud Hens baseball team back to life.

For 37 seasons (1965 – 2001), Ned Skeldon Stadium was home of the Toledo Mud Hens  minor league baseball team, based in Maumee, Ohio. The Mud Hens are part of the International League and are affiliated with the Detroit Tigers .

The stadium capacity is listed at just over 10,000 fans, though I don’t recall a game I attended having even half that for attendance. Regardless, it was replaced in 2002 with Fifth Third Field  in downtown Toledo.

I recently took a trip to the old stadium to see if it was still standing, and was pleasantly surprised that not only is it still around, it’s being used as a rec center. While I was unable to get inside the stadium to take some closer pics, I did walk away with a few shots of what remains of the stadium itself.

I’m thankful that the stadium wasn’t demolished before I could get some pics. Simply standing outside of the field brought back memories of watching games here.

I grew up watching minor league baseball, starting with the Kinston Indians , so there will always be a part of me that enjoys small stadiums such as this.


I’ve created a gallery with more pics of the stadium, taken in 2016.