Edgar Streifthau of Middletown, Ohio, opened LeSourdsville Lake Amusement Park on May 8, 1922. Streifthau purchased a plot of land that formerly housed an ice manufacturing facility in the tiny village of LeSourdsville, and construction began in 1921. Streifthau and his business partner, Bill Rothfuss, built a bathhouse, a restaurant, dance hall and a bridge crossing the abandoned Miami-Erie Canal that passed through the property. They also constructed a concrete bottom in the man-made lake for swimming. Streifthau constructed the first of several "vacation" cabins surrounding the lake and platforms for camping tents. Streifthau's brother, Ernest, joined as a partner as Bill Rothfuss focused on his career at nearby ARMCO Steel (later known as AK Steel).
