Wenonah Beach Amusement Park

Info Updates:

3/9/2018 - Erv Hutter

Wenonah Park and Wenona Beach are two separate and distinct locations. Wenona Beach was the Amusement Park located on the shores of the Saginaw Bay at the north end of Patterson Road on the west side of the Saginaw River it closed in 1964. Wenonah Park is a public park on the east riverfront of the Saginaw River in downtown Bay City. The Wenonah Hotel (1908-1977) sat just east of the park until it burned down in 1977.

12/26/2014 - Debbie Nichols

I remember when I was a very small child, my father's employer (Chevrolet Transmission) had a picnic for all the families there. I remember there was a sand or sawdust pile right near the JackRabbit that had pennies and I sat there and dug out pennies for quite a while.

12/12/2011 - Al Smith

I played in Dick Jessup's Band at the Casino in the '50s when Harry Jarkey was performing there. The last I knew, Harry, at 98 is still alive and kickin'. Saw a clip of him on Youtube recently that was made last Spring, 2011. He was doing great at that time. This website brought back many fond memories.

11/26/2011 - Bob Grzesiak

Vescio's Supermarkets used to rent the entire place for the Vescio employee picnic. All rides were free and Vescio's supplied all the food. This was into the early 1960's when I was about 5-7 years old. Mr. Vescio used to take me on the pony rides. Tony's park was great because I thought my uncle, Tony Grzesiak, who owned Tony's Bar owned this as well. Saw Wenonah Beach Park in the 1970's when half the Jack Rabbit was still standing, lots of the buildings and the rest was a mobile home park. So sad to see it go that way. Was supposed to be a competitor for Cedar Point in Bay City along I-75 where the ceramic flag is, on the curve just north of Wilder Road. My father-in-law helped kill it as part of the zoning board for Monitor Township. The flag (one side 1776, the other 1976) is harder to see as it gets overgrown.

11/20/2011 - Linda Heckerthorn

@ Tanya, Tony's Park was a small amusement park for kids on State Park Drive, c. 50s, 60s, & 70s. Wenonah Beach was a large amusement park located where the Wenonah Beach Trailer Park now stands, between the mouths of the Kawkawlin & Saginaw Rivers. It opened in the late 1800s, and catered to some of the biggest names in show business at the time. It drew many wealthy people from Chicago & Detroit. The Jack Rabbit roller coaster still ran as late as the early 60s. Wenonah Park in downtown Bay City (where the band shell is now) was always around -even during the Tony's Park & Wenonah Beach Amusement Park days. It has nothing to do with two amusement parks.

7/14/2011 - Tanya Prieur

I think you have Park mixed up with Beach. Wenonah Park is across from Vets and has the Friendship Shell where there are still concerts going on. (7/14/2011).

7/3/2011 - Lynn Heckerthorn

I live in Bay City. We once had a small amusement park in Bay City called Tony's Park. It was on the north end of State Park Dr. , between the park and where Mussel Beach Ice Cream now stands. When I was a child in the 50's, it had a train that ran past a cage with a bear, and a cage with monkeys, and through a tunnel with hand painted nursery rhymes. It also had boats, cars, and a shooting gallery with ducks you could pick. It had a great arcade with many old original items, including mirrors and a life sized fortune teller. I have pictures of myself on the rides in the 50s, and my kids on the same rides in the mid '80s (minus the animals). Across the street from Tony's was the Roll-Aire Rink, *sp* which had a long running Battle of the Bands each summer. Dick Fabian from WTAC was the host. MANY famous Michigan bands headlined and competed there. Bob Seeger, ? and the Mysterians, Ted Nugent, etc. Too many to name. Both the park & the rink were owned together by Bob Darby & Octavian Gaverilla, high school teachers. The rink was purchased by the state park that surrounded it, and demolished. Now their Prairie Grass area is located on that corner. (State Park Dr. & N. Euclid Rd. ) I would love to see them featured on your site. I will submit pictures, if that is a possibility.

4/25/2011 - joan kornecky

My parents used to ride the train/trolly out to the park to dance at the pavillion in the 30's and the 40's. In fact they did a lot of their courting out there during the war. My parents were great dancers. My mom and her girlfriends used to go there to swim and flirt with the lifeguards when she was a teen. My girlfriend and I used to go there in the early 60's to ride the Bullet. Once we were madly flirting with the operator and he thought it would be fun to just leave us on longer than usual. We got so sick and screamed so loud he got in trouble and I never rode that thing again.

1/11/2010 - Frank

The park was at the end of patterson rd right on Saginaw Bay. The roller coaster was called the jackrabbit all wooden supports quite a ride right thru tree tops. In the early days a streetcar ran constantly out patterson to the park. Another ride they had was the Bullet looked like two bullets put end to end lots of spinning not for those with weak stomachs.

8/4/2009 - Buzz Sodeman

The class of 1965 from Saginaw St. Mary''s Cathedral went there I believe somwhere between the 8th and 11th grade. That roller coaster was something else and I remember watching pieces of it fall to the ground as we rode on it. It was a wooden structure, the coaster was very fast for as old and rickety it was but it was extremely addictive. They also had bumper cars and midway style games, etc. I really don''t remember the huge swing ride nor the pavillion but then again I spent almost the entire time riding the coaster.

1/11/2004 - WaterWinterWonderland

Like many amusement parks from the past, Wenonah Park was constructed, owned an operated by a street car company known as the Bay City Traction and Electric Railway Company. The park had a bathing beach, numerous rides including what looks to be a decent-sized rollercoaster and a dance pavillion. There also was a nice hotel nearby.

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Wenonah Beach Amusement Park