Roseland Dance Hall (Metro Parks, ASCPL).

This amusement park and dance hall was built on the Cuyahoga Falls side of the Gorge, not far from the location of the old Big Falls and the current dam. It was built on land leased from Northern Ohio Traction & Light. The new park opened in 1920 and featured a large dance hall, a rollercoaster that was a half-mile long and a restaurant that served all types of food. The park encouraged picnics, boating on the river and held free band concerts. An advertisement noted that it attracted a “better class of people”, meaning they did not serve alcohol.

Cuyahoga Falls loved Riverview Park at first, but was less pleased when the park began to allow dancing on Sunday. There were two devastating fires at Riverview, the first in January 17, 1927, that destroyed the dance hall and three other buildings. Space under the pavilion was used for storage and a winter home for five alligators who were killed. It is not known what caused the fire. Then on January 30, 1927 another fire destroyed the roller rink and the Old Mill. Several young boys confessed that they had used paper to make a torch in order to see to buckle on their roller skates. They forgot the paper and it burned through the dry wooden floor.

Riverview and Roseland from the south side of the Cuyahoga River. Roseland is on the left, the swing is just right of center (Metro Parks, ASCPL).

By May 1927, a new ballroom was advertised as the new Roseland  was opened. The controversy about dancing on Sunday continued. When the park lease was first negotiated, dancing on Sunday was not illegal but the ordinance was passed later. Several managers tried to by-pass the problem by operating on Sundays and paying the $100.00 fine on Monday but after one manager was led away in handcuffs and the ballroom was vandalized it reopened in under new management in May 1929.

Riverview Park viewed from the parking lot (Metro Parks, ASCPL).

When the “Gorge Reservation” was given to the Akron Metropolitan Park District on December 29, 1929, the Park district also inherited the lease with Fairyland Amusement Company, operators of Roseland. Roseland closed in 1932 and was given to the City of Akron, it was moved and reconstructed in Elizabeth Park where it had a second life as a well-used recreation center for nearly 30 years. It was razed in 1966.