Museum Hours:
The museum is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 2:00 - 5:00 p.m.

Special tours can be arranged by calling:

George Rutherford at 814.382.7761

In 1877, Aaron Lynce purchased seven and one-half acres of land along the west side of Conneaut Lake. He began operating Lynce’s Landing, a boat and livery service. On a knoll overlooking the lake where Hotel Conneaut stands today, Lynch built his house. Aaron Lynce and his son, LeRoy, dug wells and planted maple trees.

On the lake side, these trees still shade the hotel. In 1884, Lynch added a skating rink and advertised free boat rides on the side-wheeler steam boats, Queen and Keystone.

The railroad system began to dominate transportation during the last decades of the 19th Century. Railroads promoted innovative enterprises to further increase ridership. In 1892, the officials of the Pittsburgh, Shenango and Lake Erie Railroad Co. formed an association called the Conneaut Lake Exposition Co.

The company bought out Lynce and acquired additional property around the landing. Railroad picnics and excursions drew Pittsburgh vacationers in search of leisure to the 145-acre park where eight trains could unload at one time. Entrepreneurial concessionaires set up rides, amusements and restaurants. A bathing beach and bath house with locker rooms complimented the lakefront while a toboggan slide with wheeled slides skipped adventurers along the water.

An auditorium hosted little theater productions. Hotels abound. The Park Hotel, The Antler, the Virginia, Lake View Inn and the New Colonial graced the landscape. The New Colonial featured an excellent dining room and café. Years later, the restaurant became the Log Cabin and, eventually, the park’s gift shop.

Conneaut Lake Park’s fortune grew when the Pittsburgh, Shenango and Lake Erie Railroad became the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad. Reorganized in the early 1900s by Andrew Carnegie, the railroad company expanded the park by purchasing adjacent farms. Park activities included baseball games, harness racing, picnics and golfing.

Disaster struck the park in 1908 when a fire destroyed many of the hotels and most of the buildings along the midway. In 1909, new construction included several concrete midway buildings and the Dreamland Ballroom.

In the 1920s, Exposition Park became Conneaut Lake Park. Local citizens contributed to the building of the Temple of Music, which opened in1925. Before it was destroyed by fire in the late 1940s, this first-class venue seated 5,000 and showcased musical entertainment. For decades, Dreamland Ballroom remained the largest dance hall in Pennsylvania. Bands and orchestras filled the summer nights with music. In 1934, band leader Freddy Caroline highlighted a talented singer from Cannonsburg, Pa., Perry Como, the barber. He cut hair at the Hotel Conneaut barber shop during the day and sang with Carlone’s band in the evening.

The park remained under private ownership until 1997 when it was converted to a trust when Gary Harris bought it in bankruptcy court. Since that time, the park has been overseen by various boards of trustees and court-appointed custodians to manage operation.

The park was closed in 2007 when there was no money to open, but the Beach Club was opened for a brief period of time. In 2008, the Beach Club, Camperland and Hotel Conneaut also were open for several months.

This year, board has entered into an agreement with Greg Sutterlin and Steve Popovich, local businessmen, who are preparing the hotel and Beach Club for opening this spring.

In addition, the board is in negotiations with others for possible opening of other areas.

For more on our collection of Conneaut Lake Park memorabilia, click here.

To visit the official Conneaut Lake Park website, click here.