Six Gun Territory: Remembering Ocala's Legendary Wild West Theme Park
This is a history & culture news article published on 2026-02-16 covering local Marion County, Florida news. Six Gun Territory was a famous Wild West theme park near Silver Springs that captivated visitors from 1963 to 1984 with gunfights, train rides, and frontier fun. Here is the story of one of Ocala's most iconic attractions.
Before Walt Disney World, before Universal Studios, there was Six Gun Territory — a Wild West theme park near Silver Springs that was one of Florida's top tourist attractions for over two decades.
What Was Six Gun Territory?
Six Gun Territory was a Wild West-themed amusement park located on State Road 40, adjacent to the famous Silver Springs attraction in eastern Marion County. The park opened in 1963 and operated until 1984, welcoming millions of visitors over its 21-year run. The park recreated an 1870s frontier town, complete with authentic-looking buildings, dirt streets, wooden sidewalks, and all the excitement of the American Wild West.
What Could You Do at Six Gun Territory?
The park was packed with entertainment: staged Wild West gunfights on Main Street several times daily, a narrow-gauge steam train that circled the park with occasional staged "train robberies," can-can dance shows in the saloon, a recreated Native American village, a fully stocked old-time general store, a jail and sheriff's office where kids could pose, a log flume ride and carousel, and live country music and comedy performances.
Why Did Six Gun Territory Close?
The opening of Walt Disney World in 1971 fundamentally changed Florida's tourism landscape. While Six Gun Territory had been a major draw when Silver Springs and Marineland were the state's premier attractions, it struggled to compete with the scale of Disney. Attendance gradually declined through the 1970s, and Six Gun Territory closed permanently in 1984.
The Legacy
Today, very little physical evidence of Six Gun Territory remains. But the park lives on in the memories of generations of Floridians. It represents an important chapter in Marion County's tourism history — a legacy that continues with attractions like the World Equestrian Center and Silver Springs State Park.
For more about Ocala's past and present, explore our Things to Do in Ocala guide.