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Pierre who visited Frontier Town on school field trips as a child. But thousands of Frontier Town memories have been captured in family photos, on Facebook, and in a book by Tammy Whitty-Brown and Jennifer Renee St. In 1998, Frontier Town closed its doors for good. The park was closed until 1989, at which time it reopened with some additions, such as a miniature golf course. In 1983, Art Benson sold Frontier Town to a development firm. Other special events occurred throughout the day including an attempted stagecoach robbery, a shootout with the robbers, and a demonstration of how the Pony Express was run. Frontier Town provided children with opportunities to ride a stagecoach, a steam train, canoes, and horses.Ī rodeo was held twice a day, and children were allowed to participate.
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He wanted to them to experience what life on the Western Frontier was like.
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A fort with a full cavalry completed the pioneer experience.īenson wasn’t happy with just allowing families to wander through Frontier Town and absorb the atmosphere of the place. The park also included a replica Native American village and a historical industrial section with a grist mill, saw mill, forge, and ice house. In an effort to bring the Wild West to New York, Benson and his partners built a town square area with storefronts, genuine log buildings, and a rodeo arena with pens for steers and buffalo. When he started building the town he had no construction skills, no income, no real business plan, but he managed to turn all of this into a successful business.Īt its peak in the 1960s and 70s, Frontier Town was continually improving. He had a long-held dream of building an amusement park that would allow families to experience the Wild West. Today, both the frontier town and the real town are ghost towns.Īn article in the Glens Falls Post-Star from Jdescribed the park as “a re-creation of an earlier era in American history when transportation was by real horsepower and Indians abounded.”įrontier Town was built by Art Benson in 1951. Its demise meant the end of nearly every hotel, restaurant, store and gas station in North Hudson. The local population here depended on the existence of the park. Afterwards, nearly a million would visit the park every year until it closed in 1998. During its opening year in 1952 the park drew 40,000 visitors with almost no advertising. Perhaps less obviously, it was also a very popular stop for travelers for over 40 years. Obviously, it had a wild west theme to it. But now seeing Nate’s photos, I wish I had…įrontier Town was a theme park located in North Hudson in the Adirondacks. I’ve never been there myself, but I know I’ve heard of this place before as my family has spent more than a few summer vacations at nearby Lake George.
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Nate wanted to share photos from his recent trip to Frontier Town. Last week a Facebook message came in from RocSubway reader, Nate Sengillo. The End of the Line - Rochesters Subway (DVD)
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