Today, the closest you can get to this is sometime if your on Roaring Camp Railroad, a troop of actors will reenact a train robbery.
Posted on 04/15/2023 11:44:26 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Learn the story behind San Jose, CA’s Frontier Village, a Western-themed amusement park that attracted visitors to the great 408 from around the country.
It’s about time we talked about one of our city’s most beloved attractions that brought national attention to the great 408.
So saddle up, because we’re taking you back in time to San Jose’s long-lost amusement park — Frontier Village.
The happiest place in San Jose Following a family trip to Disneyland in 1959, Palo Alto entrepreneur and businessman Joseph Zukin Jr. became inspired to build his own piece of magic in the great 408.
After purchasing 60 acres from a doctor who owned Hayes Mansion, he and amusement ride designer Laurie Hollings went to work to create a Western-themed park for all ages.
In October 1961, Frontier Village opened to the public — charging visitors only 25-90 cents for admission.
Costumed employees put on a show for a crowd of children and their parents. Costumed workers would often put on shows where an outlaw was caught by Frontier Village’s Marshal Ron.
Photo via History San José
Cowboys, marshals, and miners, oh my Once inside, you’d find yourself in the middle of staged gunfights between marshals + outlaws or watching Can-Can dancers from the park’s Silver Dollar Saloon waltzing around.
If you were lucky, you might have had a celebrity encounter — stars like Bing Crosby, Lorne Greene, Nat King Cole, and former vice-presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey walked through the saloon doors.
Many visitors who saw the park in its heyday claim that its success was built off of the attention to detail and accessibility — parking was always free, ticket packages were offered for every budget, and Kodak even provided free loaner cameras for park-goers who forgot them.
The Edenvale Garden Park benches underneath a mock railroad station awning. Edenvale Garden Park’s design is inspired by Frontier Village.
Photo via @chunhua.meeko.liu
And the rest is history
Unfortunately, Frontier Village was short lived.
The park closed in 1980 due to the emerging Great America, and the city of San Jose’s unwillingness to fund the property’s expansion.
Today, the 19.5-acre Edenvale Garden Park sits in its place, drawing its railroad theme from the beloved Western attraction.
Today, the closest you can get to this is sometime if your on Roaring Camp Railroad, a troop of actors will reenact a train robbery.
Ping
When our son was about 2, maybe 3, we took a Sunday afternoon ride on Roaring Camp and the “robbers” attacked the train and boarded our car. My son went absolutely bonkers, crying hysterically. I think he is still traumatized 30 years later.
Don’t ask me about the “Earthquake” at Universal Studios or King Kong attacking our tram car.
“Crime doesn’t pay” is such a quaint notion we were taught long ago and then taught our kids. Then Soros figured out he could buy all the big city DAs and crime most certainly DOES pay now.
Wow. Oops. I did it with adult friends about 10 years ago. We didn't know there was actually going to be the robbery part.
I did see them giving kids badges.
Don’t forget Santa’s Village on the other side of the hill.
I vaguely remember being there, but not at Frontier Village.
I hope you didn’t get hysterical and break down! ;>)
I vaguely remember Frontier Village. It shut down just before we got married and had our first kid. We used to take the kids to Kelly Park in San Jose for a step back in time and to the Billy Jones train ride at Vasona Park.
We had a couple of corporate retreat meetings at the Hayes Mansion. It was a great meeting location.
Frontier Village in Jamestown, North Dakota
Sounds like it is still there.
Abandoned places have a certain fascination for me. This article reminds me of Gulliver's Kingdom. It was a theme park built in Japan that only lasted 4 years and left some haunting remains until it was finally all removed in 2007.
My family used to go there occasionally back in the 70s. Fun place!
Kinda reminds me of Michael Jackson’s Neverland. I wonder if he went here and it inspired him.
I was at Frontier Village a couple times, the last time c. 1977 on free tickets given away by KBHK Channel 44. In hindsight, those perennial ticket giveaways pushed on Bay Area kiddie TV were a sign that Frontier Village was desperate to goose its visitor numbers.
as i recall, it was very easy to catch trout in the trout ponds. you would pay a couple of dollars, they would let you into the ponds area and give you a fishing rod and some bait.
my childhood friends and i thought about it and decided that it was too easy. how could they make the trout bite? the answer, we guessed, was that they were starving the fish so much that they felt hungry and bit anything offered to them.
i also have a dim recollection of the stagecoach trail being noticeably parallel to and somewhat close to the monterey highway at some places.
other than this, it was a fun park for young kids.
Hate to say it but it's too bad that's the reality now. Watch little Jasper Wu (Oakland, CA) disappear down the memory hole.
Is that where Roger Maris retired?
Not roofies?
Located inside the Jamestown Civic Center
212 3rd Ave NE
Jamestown, ND
At age 10 his family moved to Fargo N.D. 🙂
3902 13th Avenue South
Suite 3717
Fargo, ND 58103
Jamestown is 97 miles (1 & 1/2 hour drive) due west of Fargo on Interstate 80, or 10 minutes by plane. 🙂
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