(Editor’s Note: Chapman Falls is not an actual amusement park but its founder and developer, Kevin Miller, has constructed a facility based on area amusement park attractions, namely Fantasy Farm and its neighbor, Americana/LeSourdsville Lake in Monroe, Ohio. The SOAPHS is proud to share Kevin’s story and continuing development of his facility.)

The story behind Chapman Falls
If you knew where to look you could see the boundaries of the three-acre park on a state map a few miles west of Springfield, Ohio. A mockup of an old west town is surrounded by creeks and by the Detroit Toledo and Ironton railroad. A portion of the property serves as the residence of park founder and developer Kevin Miller in addition to a small private picnic park. The lines are getting a bit blurred in the minds of some. At one time the land was just a cornfield. Kevin’s grandfather, Kenny Miller, purchased the site as a retirement destination. A mobile home, a garage and barn occupied the site from 1970 to 2000.

After his grandfather’s death, Kevin wanted to return to his childhood playground. He removed the mobile home and built his new residence. One a sunny day in the summer of 2002 Kevin was standing at the front door admiring an old passenger train from the Queen City Tours rolling past his front yard. “I just stood there and waved at the people,” recalls Kevin. “Then all of the sudden I felt as if I were one of the actors coming out on cue as the old train at Kings Island passed that burning cabin”. At that moment, Kevin got the inspiration to build his own western town.

How It Was Constructed

Kevin didn’t have the capital he really needed to work with so he had to come up with some alternative methods to begin developing his park. Fortunately Kevin’s employer had an interesting flow of pallets and skids coming in to dispose of.  Instead of the company paying to remove the unwanted pallets, Kevin took them home by truck and trailer.  Some of the pallets weighed as much as one thousand pounds and had to be disassembled on the trailer. Some pallets were as big as seven foot wide by twelve feet long. The pallets contained a number of two by fours, four
by fours and one by sixes. The hitching posts were made from old telephone poles, fence posts and guardrail post donated by the highway department.  As time went on, people heard of Kevin’s evolving park and offered various building materials. A local salvage yard was the source for doors windows and shutters. The strangest item Kevin obtained was an industrial overhead door that was positioned sideways for use as the wall for his Wells Fargo bank.  Kevin found rusty metal roofing that had been buried near his house that had once been installed on the barn.

Parts of the old mobile home and wood from an old loft of the barn were used. Kevin obtained unused manikins from Knott’s Berry Farm Park in California. Kevin arranged to have the manikins shipped to Springfield using the services of Greyhound. Many of the manikins came from Orange County, California. A female manikin came from Tampa, Florida after a life of modeling clothes on eBay. A horse manikin came from a board member of a western theme park located in Abilene, Texas.

The name for the park
The parks’ name is derived from the name of the creek the flows through the property. The creek is named after a family that once lived in the area. John Chapman, a family member, is known the world over as “Johnny Apple Seed.” 

Park Offerings

The park currently has a representation of 18 buildings and consists mostly of store fronts. The most notable buildings include a train station and a “school.” The biggest event of the year for this park is a private party named from an old saying Grandma used to say, “come on over and we’ll shoot a monkey and open a keg of nails” The “Shoot a Monkey Open a Keg of Nails” party consists of shooting a monkey (a fake one) and grilling rib eye steaks to the sound of polka music. Family members from all over the country make it to Springfield to attend the annual event.

Thoughts from Kevin

This whole thing started out as a project to decorate my property; then one day I looked up and found a unique picnic park staring back at me. I don't think of the place as a big deal or as special. The place is certainly not on the scale of a full time amusement park, but it is unique. I have people pulling into my drive to set and look. Cars are driving slowly down the road and some back up to drive past again. I'm glad they like it.

For additional information on Chapman Falls, contact Kevin Miller at b4kdm@yahoo.com.

 Chapman Falls Photo Album

Photo credits: Top: soaphs file, T.Rhein, park archive.