Chippewa Lake Park near Medina, Ohio was one of those magic settings for kids from its grand opening in 1875 to its final gasp in 1978. One hundred and three years of summer thrills imprinted in the memory cells of the kids and families fortunate enough to have passed through its gates.
One such kid was me, Billy Bouslaugh in those days. My uncle and aunt Dinty and Alice Huth owned the Arcade, Kiddy Land, Pokerino, Darts, and Shuffle Board. I started working the games at age 10 in 1955, the summer after my father died of a massive heart attack at age 42. My mother, Madeline, was the Pokerino operator. I learned a lot during my stint at Chippewa--how to hustle and smile and coax the folks out of a few quarters to test their skills. It wasn't that the games were rigged exactly, just that they were almost impossible to win except by dumb luck every so often.
Now, in 2006, 28 years since the end of Chippewa, a gentleman apparently of some means, fond memories and grand ambitions is in the early stages of planning to resurrect the old place. Can he pull it off? Way too early to tell. But I know there are plenty of folks out there, like me, who are hoping against hope, that he
can and will.
