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Many New York natives and visitors have fond memories of Frontier Town. The unique attraction was off the beaten path. It was an opportunity for people to get a small glimpse of what it may have been like to live and work in the old West. Frontier Town was founded by Arthur Bensen.
- Amusement Parks
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- North Hudson
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- Amusement Parks
Frontier Town was founded by Arthur Bensen, a New Yorker who had always longed to create an amusement park that would offer visitors the chance to step back into time and experience the old Wild West.
Frontier Town “The Wild West in the East” Major attractions included staged gunfights, can-can dancers, wagon rides, a rodeo area, and rides like a log flume and a steam train that took visitors around the park. In its heyday in the 1960s-1970s, Frontier Town attracted over 300,000 visitors per year.
A lot more was added during the 60s, 70s and early 80's. If anyone can fill in some details, especially for the period around the first closing of Frontier Town in 1985, I would greatly appreciate it if you would email me.
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Started in 1952, Frontier Town in the Adirondacks was a theme park built for kids, and for their folks who use to be kids. For more than four decades, with trick riders, bucking broncos, horses and buggies and stagecoach bandits, this rural entertainment destination scratched their cowboy itch.
Founded by Arthur Bensen, an enterprising phone technician from Staten Island, the park had a Pioneer Village (lots of calico dresses and butter churning), Prairie Junction (modeled after a Wild West main street), an Indian Village, a rodeo arena, and even a narrow gauge railroad. It drew steady crowds to the decidedly un-Western part of the world ...
After a couple of dark years the park rebounded, refinanced and eventually reopened, managing to stay in business until 1998, but by then the crowds had thinned to a trickle. Frontier Town shut down for good, with the property eventually taken over by the county for unpaid taxes.
Update May 2018: The town is restricted while it is under construction. There are signs at the entry points and the state has started work on the camp grounds that they are adding. Caution if you hike in: Stay on the beaten trails and out of buildings. Some are caving in and the board walks are giving out. The roof of the junction is collapsing. Th...
As of May 2018, the town is restricted while it is under construction. New York State has purchased the site with Governor Andrew Cuomo proposing to redevelop the site into a Gateway to the Adirondacks, complete with a visitor center, state campground, event center, and even brewery. The proposed $32 million dollar plan is still in progress, but ma...
You can read stories from the old owners, employees and volunteers in the Frontier Town Then And Now books. They are still available at local stores near Frontier Town and on Ebay. The books Facebook page has links to old video and photos.
Frontier Town was a Wild West Theme Park in the Adirondack region of Upstate New York (North Hudson, to be exact - north of Lake George). It opened on July 4, 1952 and, except for a few years in the 1980s, remained open until 1998.
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Oct 1, 2022 · In North Hudson, Western-themed Frontier Town had an incontestable presence in the Adirondacks through much of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. ( See what’s happening there now .) Despite their eccentric charm, smaller family-run theme parks have little chance against major international amusement park chains.
