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Colorado residents and visitors have long enjoyed聽having two major amusement parks to visit every summer.聽While Elitch鈥檚, Denver鈥檚 oldest and largest amusement聽park, has been much celebrated in print, Lakeside Amusement Park has not been chronicled — until聽now. Colorado native and historian David Forsyth聽tells the full story in 聽the recently published “Denver鈥檚 Lakeside Amusement聽Park: From the White City Beautiful to a Century of聽Fun” (University Press of Colorado).

Forsyth links Lakeside to Mayor Robert Speer鈥檚聽City Beautiful Movement to transform Denver from an聽ordinary, dusty, drab Western town into a tree-shaded,聽park-filled city that Speer dubbed 鈥淧aris on the聽Platte.鈥�

Lakeside Amusement Park began with Denver beer baron聽Adolph Zang. His Zang Brewing Company had grown into the聽largest pre-Prohibition brewery in the Rocky Mountain聽region, leaving him plenty of beer money. He spearheaded聽a group of local businessmen who in 1908 founded聽Lakeside as a summer playground sitting on a 37-acre聽lake.

To escape Denver鈥檚 liquor laws, the beer-minded Zang聽incorporated Lakeside as a separate Jefferson County聽town with its own rules and own police force. To this聽day, Lakeside may be the only amusement park with its own聽jail. Although beer flowed, Lakeside strove to maintain聽a wholesome reputation. Its bathing beach prescribed聽separate areas for men and women.

After Zang鈥檚 death in 1916, Lakeside struggled until聽Benjamin Krasner, a long-time park employee, bought it聽in 1935. Krasner had come from the East Coast in 1917 to聽operate a Lakeside concession and had risen to manager聽of all concessions by 1930.

Krasner greatly improved Lakeside during the Great聽Depression and World War II 聽when many parks around聽the country struggled and died. He brought to its聽El Patio Ballroom such big-time stars as Duke Ellington聽and Glenn Miller. To give the entire park a facelift, Krasner hired Denver architect Richard Crowther. He聽transformed the park into Colorado鈥檚 brightest Art Deco-style venue and outlined buildings in rainbow-hued neon聽tubes.

Lakeside still boasts one of the country鈥檚 longest聽miniature railroads, a tiny but rideable train that聽circles the lake. The park installed its most famous聽ride, the Cyclone roller coaster, in 1940. This was聽Colorado鈥檚 champion roller coaster for decades and a聽national favorite. By 1986, Lakeside boasted three聽different roller coasters. Speed demons fancied Lakeside鈥檚 Speedway, one of聽Colorado鈥檚 most popular, from its 1938 opening until it聽ran out of gas in 1988.

In an age of corporate chain mega-parks, Lakeside聽has defied the odds and history to survive for more than聽a century as a small, family-owned and -operated park.聽The hero of the Lakeside saga is Krasner.聽According to his daughter (and Lakeside鈥檚 current owner), Rhoda Krasner, her father gloried in a 鈥渓ong and聽delighted infatuation with Lakeside, a child鈥檚 magic聽world.鈥�

He died in 1965, but Rhoda — Krasner’s only child, who worked at the park since childhood — carried on.聽Rhoda鈥檚 daughter Brenda, a physician, also helps manage聽the park with some help from her own little girl — 聽the聽fourth generation of Krasners to be involved.

Lakeside is a trip back more than a century in time.聽The Tower of Jewels, the signature 150-foot-high tower聽on Sheridan Boulevard, survives from 1908. The Krasners鈥櫬爓illingness to innovate and remain economical explains聽Lakeside鈥檚 success. In 1938, for example, when most聽amusement parks were still relying on streetcar traffic,聽Lakeside converted its baseball field to a 7,000-car聽paved parking lot. Free parking remains a Lakeside lure.聽Admission tickets are also a bargain at $3.

The payoff聽is those warm summer nights when Lakeside crackles with聽dazzling light, excitement, romance and mechanical聽adventures.

Tom Noel welcomes your comments at dr-colorado.com.聽His “Colorado: A Historical Atlas” won the 2016 Colorado聽Book award for best history book.

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