Summit Park Station contained one gate in the form of turnstiles. As people came in on the trolleys, they stopped onto a platform constructed on the plan of the elevated railroad stations in New York City to afford the greatest convenience and efficiency for everyone. Those covered platforms then led into an octagonal ticket office in the center. Pleasure seekers entered the park by passing through the turnstiles which counted the crowds. On the return, the other end of the platform was used, thus relieving the congestion of "two-way traffic." Four or five feet wide paths led the crowds to all parts of Summit Park. One such went from the Station up to the main entrance of the pavilion.

The pavilion was the largest and most elaborate building in the park. It stood at the top of a hill and was made more conspicuous from all sides due to the fact that it was built four feet above the ground. At the top of the main flight of steps was the large dance floor ninety feet square.

Overlooking the huge floor was "a balcony where the families would sit while they watched their children try out the floor". There was also a good view of the park from this balcony.

On the same level, adjoining the dance floor, was an octagonal building, known as the promenade. This was a continuation of the walk which surrounded the dance floor in the center of the octagon was the Ada fountain which, for its day, was something special. It dispensed sarsaparilla or lemon sour to those who needed refreshment after dancing.

West of the pavilion was a natural bowl with three sides facing the open air theater. Benches and chairs were placed on the surrounding hills and more than one thousand people could watch the shows. In back of the audience on the south slope were the Pinnacle, the water tower, and the Observatory. The Observatory had a massive stone foundation, but after a few years the Observatory was declared unsafe and was not used any more.

At the opposite end of the park from the Observatory was the Grand Stand facing a quarter mile track and the Summit Park Station. The Grand Stand, seating about four hundred, was completely covered. The quarter mile track, containing a baseball diamond, was used only for a few "...school races and other athletic contests…” It apparently was not as useful as first imagined and was destroyed after a few years

On the west side of the park, directly in back of the Grand Stand and open air theater, is a sheer cliff dropping down more than one hundred twenty-five feet to the Oriskany Creek which formed a lake about fifty feet wide in back of an old state dam. A terraced stairway led to the boat house and dock. About twenty boats and a canoe were at the pier to be rented for twenty-five cents an hour. At one time provisions were made for swimming in the four feet of water shaded by overhanging willow trees.

Park benches, picnic tables, and the grayish colored park buildings were all shaded from the summer heat by the same trees that had once covered homes of Iroquois Indians living in the same area.

Other than the food and the boating the admission to the park was the only cost. For ten cents, what more could one ask? Despite the fact that dancing was free, bands were often brought up from New York City to entertain the crowds which were never noisy. People were quick to accept this chance to glide across the floor to the tunes of two-steps and waltzes. As dancing was never done on Sundays, these bands usually gave afternoon concerts.

Usual park attendance ran at one thousand a night climbing to fifteen hundred on Saturdays and averaging six or seven thousand on Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day. However, all records of attendance were broken when former president Theodore Roosevelt came to Summit Park to speak at a
G.A.R. convention in 1910. A long line of veterans was on hand to welcome him. During the day, an estimated crowd of twenty thousand heard Roosevelt give his first speech in the States after his return from the hunting trip in Africa.

Any drunkards coming on the trolleys were not permitted to enter the park and no such products were sold on the premises.

The last twelve or fifteen years brought a new type of entertainment to Summit Park. Concessions for amusement booths and rides were awarded to local people interested in the park.

Aden Cole and George Vanderzee owned and operated most of the -rides. These included the roller coaster, whip, merry-go-round, and miniature railroad. The roller coaster, for those days, was a large, dangerous looking affair. It had several dips, the first being over one hundred feet deep and was built on the side hill between Summit Park Station and the pavilion.

Along the paths leading through the park were small shops including the shooting gallery, the penny arcade, a Japanese shop, run by a New Yorker who sold Japanese souvenirs and knickknacks, and a skee-ball alley. For a time the owner of the skee-ball alley also exhibited a showcase of snakes. A picture gallery, hot dog stand, doughnut machine, and popcorn vender offered people a place to spend their money.

Rounding out the entertainment fare were miniature airplanes on the order of those in today's parks, circus performances with tigers and elephants, and, of course, the boating on the Oriskany Creek. Fire works were held every Fourth of July.

In later years, as autos increased business fell off. In 1926 the Park closed. And in 1934, while busily building the Deland, Fla. Library, Baker died. The Library is named after him.