Did You Know That Loveland Used to Have a Fun, Little Amusement Park?

Over 50 years ago, Loveland had a little amusement park. It was no Elitch Gardens, but it did bring smiles to many, while it lasted.

It's funny how you can grow up in a town/city, and still find things out about that town that you didn't know. That's where this long-gone amusement park in Loveland, Colorado, comes in.

My family moved to Loveland in 1972;  I do not recall ever going out to this amusement park that was behind a restaurant, about one mile west of where Dairy Delite is. Many might remember the Riverhouse Restaurant, lass as many might remember the Merri-Axe restaurant that stood near the corner of Highway 34 and what is now Rossum Drive. The Riverhouse Restaurant would later operate in this area, for many years.

Thousands of people every year drive down Rossum Drive, either to check out the Oxbow Natural Area or the widely popular Mariana Butte Golf Course. Just west of Rossum Drive, near the highway, used to be Merri-Land Amusement Park

The amusement park operated from the summer of 1968 into the early to mid-'70s. Many people on the Lovelanders Facebook page remember the park, and it's railroad that went over the Big Thompson River on a covered bridge. That had to be very neat. The devastating Big Thomson Flood of 1976 destroyed a majority of what was left of Merri-Land.

The area is now private property, but from Rossum you can still catch a glimpse of what may have been a ticket booth for the park, and a pavilion of some sort.

Good to know that even before Crystal Rapids, Lovelanders had a way to have some fun.

*Under no circumstances should you enter this property. By doing so you risk bodily harm and/or prosecution for trespassing on private property.