List of Fires
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
This page is under construction. Please remove this notice when complete.
Below is a list of reported fires at the park.
| Date | Ride(s) or Attraction(s) | Victims | Estimated Damage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 4, 1907 | Theatorium Tours of the World Photographic Gallery (2) |
None | $5,000$170,992 in 2025 dollars | A firecracker thrown onto a tar roof caused a fire on July 4, 1907, destroying three attractions.[1][2][3][4] Read more about this fire. |
| May 28, 1911 | Dear Old Coney Island | None | Duke, a performing dog from the neighboring Destruction of Johnstown exhibit, found the fire and alerted attaches, who extinguished the fire with a few buckets of water. The attractions were houses in structures of wood and burlap, so fire was a concern.[5][6] | |
| July 16, 1911 | Ye Olde Mill (1) Johnstown Flood Temple of Mirth Penny Arcade (Midway) Coney Island Wonderland Theater |
James Andrews, 87 Earnest Parsons, 19 Five others |
$15,000 to $50,000$507,576 to $1.7 million in 2025 dollars | Fire broke out around 9:15 p.m. in the Old Mill and spread through the Midway, destroying five to seven attractions. Andrews and Parsons were slightly burned in the panic. The park reported there were only injuries, no deaths. A few fires were found that day and extinguished including a fire in a theater box.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Read more about this fire. |
| Aug. 6, 1911 | None | None | One of the balloons used in the ascensions and parachute drops caught fire from the flame supplying the heat. A park employee threw a bucket of oil on the fire, thinking it was water, destroying the balloon. No one was hurt in the incident.[17] | |
| April 14, 1914 | Greenhouses | None | $700$22,503 in 2025 dollars | Park florist and head gardener Joseph Katona had a small hose and was able to save the six greenhouses in 1914 when a fire was caused by paint-saturated overalls of a painter laid too close to a boiler.[18][19] |
| March 30, 1934 | Boathouse | None | $2,500$59,975 in 2025 dollars to $3,000$71,970 in 2025 dollars | Burned down after about four years of disuse. Fire Chief E. P. Welch blamed the fire on children building a bonfire near the building. The water had not yet been turned on for the season, hampering firefighter efforts to quell the fire.[20][21][22][23][24] |
References
- ↑ "Boy Leads His Two Sisters Out of a Fire at Park." Columbus Evening Dispatch. July 5, 1907. Page 13.
- ↑ "Olentangy Park Fire Not Destructive." The Marion Daily Mirror (Marion, Ohio). July 29, 1907. Page 8.
- ↑ "An Airship Will Sail From Tuscora Park, Next Week Cromwell Dixon to Make Three Flights." The Daily Times (New Philadelphia, Ohio). Aug. 8, 1907. Page 2.
- ↑ "Fire Department Kept on the Run." Columbus Evening Dispatch. June 5, 1907. Page 15.
- ↑ "Blaze in Olentangy Attraction and Gives Alarm." The Columbus Evening Dispatch. May 29, 1911. Page 3.
- ↑ "Local Coney Island is Also Visited by Fire." Columbus Evening Dispatch. May 29, 1911. Page 3.
- ↑ "Amusement Park Visited by Fire." Springfield News-Sun (Springfield, Ohio). July 17, 1911. Page 2. Accessed through Newspapers.com Clip 1 Clip 2
- ↑ "Fire Causes Panic." Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California). July 17, 1911. Page 5. Accessed through Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/oakland-tribune-1911-07-17/page/n3/mode/2up?q=%22Olentangy+Park%22
- ↑ "Olentangy Park Burns; Several Hurt in Panic." The Times Recorder (Zanesville, Ohio). July 17, 1911. Page 1. Accessed through Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-recorder-olentangy-park-burns/178439308/
- ↑ Photographs. The Columbus Evening Dispatch. July 17, 1911. Page 1.
- ↑ "Suspect Arson in Destructive Fire at Olentangy Park." The Columbus Evening Dispatch. July 17, 1911. Page 1.
- ↑ "Olentangy Park Fire Not Work of Arsonist." The Columbus Evening Dispatch. July 18, 1911. Page 3.
- ↑ "Fire Panic in Park Resort." The New York Times. July 17, 1911. Page 18.
- ↑ "Olentangy Park." The Columbus Evening Dispatch. July 22, 1911. Page 10.
- ↑ "Fire Spreads Panic at Columbus Park." The Zanesville Signal (Zanesville, Ohio). July 17, 1911. Page 7. Accessed through Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-zanesville-signal-fire-spreads-panic/178439742/
- ↑ "The Fire at Olentangy Park." The Galion Inquirer (Galion, Ohio). July 18, 1911. Page 4. Accessed through Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-galion-inquirer-the-fire-at-olentang/157633162/
- ↑ "Oil, Instead of Water." Columbus Evening Dispatch. Aug. 7, 1911. Page 3.
- ↑ "$700 Fire Loss at Park." Columbus Evening Dispatch. April 15, 1914. Page 3.
- ↑ "Park to Open Today." The Columbus Sunday Dispatch. April 4, 1920. Page 72.
- ↑ "Fire Runs." The Columbus Dispatch. March 31, 1934. Page 2.
- ↑ Barret, Richard E. 1984. "Olentangy Park: Four Decades of Fun." Columbus and Central Ohio Historian No. 1. April 1984. Page 15.
- ↑ "Olentangy Boat House Destroyed." The Columbus Dispatch. March 30, 1934. Page 1.
- ↑ Hyatt, Shirley. 2009. Clintonville and Beechwold. Arcadia Publishing.
- ↑ "Children Are Blamed." The Columbus Dispatch. March 31, 1934. Page 2.