Ohio’s Million Dollar Playground
Sandy Beach Park opened on May 30, 1924. The summer before, Samuel “Pappy” Wilgus, and his son French Wilgus, had acquired the lease to the Cain property, and announced that they were going to build an amusement park. Five years earlier, Samuel Wilgus had established the Sandy Beach bathing area on a small island about 50 yards from the mainland, that was accessible by boat only. The first order of business was to build a one-mile long boardwalk, starting at Main Street and going all the way back to the lake edge; here, a walking bridge connected to Sandy Beach Island.
Vintage Postcards of Indian Lake, Ohio 