Craig Beach

• Berlin LakeBuilt 1943 · 3,590 acres
• Lake MiltonBuilt 1916 · 1,780 acres

How Craig Beach began

Craig Beach grew directly out of the construction of Lake Milton: after the 1913 Mahoning Valley flood accelerated Youngstown's plan to dam the Mahoning River for water supply and flood control, schoolteacher and entrepreneur Ward E. Craig set up a refreshment stand on his farmland near the dam site to serve the crowds who came to watch the work. By 1916 Craig's Landing had grown into a lakeside resort with swimming, boating and live music, and in 1920 Craig built a dance hall that drew touring big bands; in 1922 he and investors formed the Craig Beach Company to add a full amusement park, which by 1929 featured a Ferris wheel, roller coaster, carousel and midway. The community incorporated as a village in 1931. On August 1, 1934, 17-year-old Dino Crocetti made his singing debut at the dance hall on a friend's dare; he later became famous worldwide as Dean Martin. Wartime rationing, a shrinking landlocked site and competition from larger parks eventually closed the amusement park in 1966, and Craig Beach is today a small residential village within Lake Milton State Park.

Settled 1910-1913 (Ward Craig establishes a refreshment stand near the Lake Milton dam construction site), platted Developed as Craig's Landing from 1916; Craig Beach amusement park added from 1922, incorporated 1931, by Ward E. Craig, schoolteacher, musician and entrepreneur.

Where the name comes from

The village is named for its founder, Ward E. Craig, who first set up a small stand near the Lake Milton dam construction site around 1910-1913, later developing the site as Craig's Landing and then, from 1922, the Craig Beach amusement park and resort.

Before the town

No Native American village, trail, or site specific to Craig Beach is documented in the sources consulted; the village did not exist before the 1910s. The area lies within the Connecticut Western Reserve, land ceded by the Wyandot, Ottawa, Chippewa, Munsee, Delaware, Shawnee, and Potawatomi in the 1805 Treaty of Fort Industry.

Timeline

1. 1913 — A devastating Mahoning Valley flood accelerates Youngstown's plan to dam the Mahoning River in Milton Township for water supply and flood control; Ward Craig, who owns farmland near the site, begins selling refreshments to the crowds who gather to watch construction.
2. 1916 — Craig has developed his property into Craig's Landing, with swimming areas, snack stands, boat docks, picnic facilities and live music performed with the Dana Institute band, in which Craig himself played.
3. 1920 — Craig builds a large dance hall that attracts major touring bandleaders, including Cab Calloway.
4. 1922 — Craig and investors form the Craig Beach Company to develop an amusement park beside the dance hall.
5. 1929 — The Craig Beach Amusement Park features a Ferris wheel, roller coaster, merry-go-round, midway arcade and concessions.
6. 1931 — Craig Beach incorporates as a village.
7. 1934 — The amusement park company files for bankruptcy; on August 1, 17-year-old Dino Crocetti makes his singing debut at the Craig Beach Dance Hall with the George Williams Orchestra, performing "Oh Marie" on a friend's dare. He later achieves worldwide fame as Dean Martin.
8. 1941 — A roller coaster derailment at the park kills two teenagers during an outing attended by a Black church congregation.
9. 1966 — The amusement park closes, worn down by wartime fuel rationing, competition from larger parks such as Cedar Point, and its constrained eight-acre, landlocked site.

Stories

A dare that made Dean Martin

On August 1, 1934, a seventeen-year-old steelworker's son from Steubenville named Dino Crocetti was at the Craig Beach Dance Hall on the shore of Lake Milton when his friends dared him to get up and sing with the touring George Williams Orchestra. He took the dare, performing "Oh Marie," and though nothing immediate came of it, the moment is now remembered as the stage debut of a young man who would spend the following decade building a singing and acting career under the name Dean Martin, eventually becoming one of the most famous entertainers in the world as part of the Rat Pack. The dance hall itself did not survive to see his fame play out at any distance: it was razed in the 1970s, and a condominium development stands on the old amusement park grounds today. An Ohio Historical Society marker near the site is the only physical trace left of the night a Mahoning County lake resort briefly hosted the future Dean Martin.

From dam-watchers to a dance-hall empire

Craig Beach exists because of a flood. When the Mahoning River overflowed catastrophically in 1913, Youngstown accelerated its plan to build a reservoir dam in Milton Township, and the construction drew crowds of curious onlookers. Ward Craig, a schoolteacher who owned nearby farmland, saw the opportunity and set up a small stand selling hot dogs and ice cream to the spectators. What began as concession sales at a construction site grew, over the following two decades, into swimming beaches, boat docks, a musician-run dance hall that hosted touring big-band acts including Cab Calloway, and finally a full amusement park with a Ferris wheel and roller coaster by 1929. The community incorporated as its own village in 1931, named simply for the man who had turned a public works project into a resort. The amusement park's fortunes did not survive the century intact -- a 1934 bankruptcy, a fatal 1941 roller coaster accident, and wartime rationing all took a toll -- and it finally closed in 1966, but Craig Beach the village remains, a small lakeside community built entirely on the entrepreneurial instincts of the man who first thought to sell a hot dog to dam-watchers.

Photographs

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · businessjournaldaily.com · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org

No water-system data is linked to Craig Beach's ZIP codes yet.

Fire and EMS stations (1)

High-hazard dams (1)

Police stations (1)

Who holds office

Roster as of 2026-09-17: county board of elections.

Ballot issues

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-06-10

Source: Ohio EPA eDocument portal (edocpub.epa.ohio.gov), indexed 2026-10-14. Facilities are placed on the map from Ohio EPA's own map layers, EPA's Facility Registry, coordinates written in the filings, or a geocoded street address. A permit filed under a private person's name (most are household septic systems) is counted but never named, placed or linked; licenses for individual workers and open-burning notices are left out entirely.

Cite this page