The History of Blue Streak

For sixty years the same blue-tracked wooden coaster has stood near the Cedar Point beach, and it is still the oldest roller coaster running at the park. Blue Streak opened in 1964, and in a real sense it started everything that came after it.

The coaster that restarted Cedar Point

When Cedar Point tore down its aging Cyclone in 1951, the park went more than a decade without a major roller coaster. Blue Streak ended that drought. Built for about $200,000 by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company, with early groundwork laid out by the celebrated designer John C. Allen and the rest overseen by Frank Hoover, it opened in 1964 as a classic wooden out-and-back. It turned out to be the first domino in what became the largest roller coaster collection in the country, leading directly to the Cedar Creek Mine Ride, Corkscrew, and Gemini over the next fifteen years.

A hometown name

The name is pure local pride. Blue Streak was named for the athletic teams of nearby Sandusky High School, the Blue Streaks, and the trains and track have worn blue ever since. The wooden structure is still maintained the old-fashioned way, board replaced by board, and the ride has aged into a beloved classic rather than a relic. Generations of Cedar Point visitors have taken their first big coaster ride on it.

One thing to know

In 2022 the American Coaster Enthusiasts named Blue Streak a Coaster Landmark, an honor reserved for historically significant rides, recognizing the coaster that brought Cedar Point back to the roller coaster business.

Blue Streak is one chapter in the history of Cedar Point.

Blue Streak at a glance