Six Gun Territory
In 1962, R. B. Coburn of Western Heritage U.S.A. Corporation announced the opening of a new theme park off State Road 40 near Silver Springs called Six Gun Territory. Visitors entered the park from the parking lot via train ride, which passed by staged confrontations between cowboys and Indians. Once guests entered the park, they encountered a variety of Western and frontier-themed buildings and attractions including but not limited to:
- Staged Shoot-Outs and Duels
- Staged Robberies
- Six Restaurants
- A Mystery Shack
- Various Gift Shops
- Various Specialty Shops
- A General Store
- Native American Trading Post
- A Church
- A Schoolhouse
- The OK Corral
- A Fort
- A Native American Village
- A Hotel
- A Jail and Sheriff’s Office
- A Bank
- A Blacksmiths Space
- A Saloon
Some of the most popular attractions were the Palace Saloon and Theatre, which featured live cancan dance shows, the staged shoot-outs and robberies, and a replica Mexican Border Town, complete with a casino, market, cantina, and village houses. In the late 1960s, Six Gun Territory was so popular that local restaurants, motels, and businesses replicated western motifs to increase sales through association. However, in the 1970, Coburn sold Six Gun Territory, along with its sister parks (Ghost Town in the Sky in Maggie Valley, NC and Frontier Land in Cherokee, NC). After poor management of the park under various owners, the park officially shut down in 1984. Today, the area that was once Six Gun Park has been redeveloped into a residential neighborhood behind the aptly named Six Gun Plaza shopping center.
For more information on Six Gun Territory and the surrounding Ocala community please visit https://ocalamainstreet.org/.
