Source: Martin Cote
I believe that my grandfather once owned Sugar Island. This would have been in the roaring twenties! He was quite overextended financially with many other holdings, and was pretty well wiped out by the Great Depression of the early thirties. His name was Elmer Francis Cote. Also, he owned and operated several parks in the state of Michigan, including Kent Lake (now Kensington Park) and Ramona Park in Utica. He had a traveling carnival, too, until his death in the early 1960's named Cote Amusement Company. I used to run the ferris wheel and sell tickets at various weekend locations. It was a different time, for sure. Major rides cost a quarter, and the kiddie rides were only about 15 cents!.