Conneaut Lake Park didn’t specify exactly why the Blue Streak roller coaster was taken down, but officials had said the ride didn’t open at all last year because of the need for a structural evaluation. It is also only one of many rides that have been taken down or sold off since Philadelphia businessman Todd Joseph purchased the park at an auction, the Erie Times-News reported.

Blue Streak was built in 1937 and has been opened and closed several times throughout the more than eight decades since. The loss of the historic attraction saddened many who had frequented Conneaut Lake Park and had memories of riding Blue Streak.

This includes Lorraine Holiga, a resident of Hermitage, Pennsylvania, who recalled some of her time at the park growing up to WJET-TV.

“Just the memories that my sisters, brothers, and friends had up here at the park. Just really sad to see that this is gone and it’s just heartbreaking,” Holiga said.

Kathy Evanoff, a business owner in Conneaut Lake, also told the station that she was sad to see the coaster go, but hoped park officials would use the land where it stood for something good.

“I think the park needs a lot of work and it is such a beautiful landscape area and it is just not being utilized to what I think its potential is,” Evanoff said.

Conneaut Lake Park has operated as an amusement park since 1892, when it opened as Exposition Park, but has been closed a number of times during years of financial difficulty. The park didn’t operate in 2020 during the pandemic but reopened for a shortened season in July.

Early reports had indicated that the Blue Streak roller coaster at Conneaut Lake Park was damaged by a fire Tuesday from a controlled burn, but the park said later on its Facebook page that heavy equipment had been in the process of demolishing the coaster in accord with a permit issued for that purpose.

“A burn permit was also issued to have small controlled fires to burn the wood as demolition continued,” the statement said. “A mechanical issue occurred to the heavy equipment used to assist in the control, causing the fire to spread to the front part of the loading dock.”

No injuries were reported. Dan O’Meara, chief of the Summit Township Volunteer Fire Department, told the Erie Times-News that the roller coaster was “gone,” tracks and all, and fire crews were “more worried about the carousel,” which was undamaged.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.