Six Gun Territory : Remembering A Forgotten Roadside Attraction 

Courtesy of SouthernPalmRealty.com

Opening day on February 2, 1963 was a different time in the world of entertainment – in the world in general.

Six Gun Territory was a western themed amusement park that included “real” gunfights between the good guys and the bad guys. When Six Gun Territory opened Silver Springs Boulevard was truly a Boulevard. Right down the street was Silver Springs Park – a beautiful natural attraction. Classic western TV shows, such as Gunsmoke were in their heyday in 1963. Marshall Dillon was a western hero and Six Gun Territory was a lot like Dodge City.

Six Gun Territory. Ocala, Florida

It also had an aerial sky ride that transported guests from the entrance on Silver Springs Boulevard to the old Western town. Six Gun developer was R.B. Coburn. Mr. Coburn had also developed a mountaintop resort in Maggie Valley, NC called Ghost Town. It was a family theme park and he wanted to build another park that would attract families.  He liked the location for Six Gun because of the proximity to Silver Springs Park, which was already an established theme park. He also liked the wholesomeness of Ocala.

Mr. Coburn wanted and made sure he built an authentic western town. It was designed by Russell Pearson from Oklahoma. It is said that Mr. Pearson was a hard man to work for because he was a stickler for making sure everything was authentic. He constructed real buildings, not just fronts on the buildings so the whole experience was truly like being in a town in the “wild west”.

The buildings included saloons, a courthouse, a jail, a schoolhouse, the Frontier Hotel (which hosted many of the stars of the day), a Morrison’s cafeteria, and the non-denominational Frontier Community Church – which was filled with Sunday worshipers every weekend. The town had a train – unfortunately the train was ambushed by outlaws every day -in fact a few times a day. Bank robberies happened each day and were followed by a shootout between the good guys and the bad guys. The town even had an undertaker.

A lot of the residents of Ocala remember going to Six Gun as kids and a lot of them worked there. A local horse farm supplied all of the horses for the attraction, including the horses for the trail ride. The trail ride was a six-mile trail that was along Joy Avenue (today NW 35th Street). The Red Dog Saloon sported a bar, dancing girls and a lot of fights. As time passed and Walt Disney choose Orlando to build his dream and with the waning of the popular westerns, Six Gun Territory couldn’t keep up. On January 1, 1984, Six Gun closed its saloon door for the final time. Most of the assets were sold at an auction and the buildings (and the history with them) were bulldozed and burned two years later.

There was a sadness about the closing and an innocent time gone.