100 Years of Presque Isle State Park Celebrating Erie s lakeside peninsula playground by Jonathan Burdick
Jessica Hunter
Whether you re standing in an unoccupied lifeguard s chair or sitting on the beach, Presque Isle State Park s sunsets are some of the world s most breathtaking.
On June 10, 1921, Otto G. Hitchcock, vice president of Hays Manufacturing Company, spoke at an event about the Pennsylvania state legislature s authorization to create a state park out of the Presque Isle peninsula on Lake Erie. He was thrilled, because the peninsula, Hitchcock declared, was a veritable playground of unsullied nature along the shore and the most important attraction in Erie.