Pioneer City
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 The main street of Pioneer City | |
 Interactive map of Pioneer City | |
| Location | Davie, Florida, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 26°04′30″N 80°19′26″W / 26.07501°N 80.32383°W |
| Status | Defunct |
| Opened | May 28, 1966 |
| Closed | February 1968 |
| Owner | Myron M. Weiss, Sr. |
| Operating season | Year-round |
| Area | 200 acres (0.81 km2) |
Pioneer City was an Old West theme park located across the street from Flamingo Gardens in Davie, Florida.
The park was opened on Memorial Day weekend 1966 by photography studio magnate Myron M. "Mike" Weiss, Sr. as a built-to-scale Dodge City, Kansas, complete with a saloon, general store, Pony Express office, opera house and casino, undertaker, and barber shop, highlighted by cowboy actors who staged gunfights at high noon.[1]
Weiss invested $2 million (about $13.5 million in 2010 dollars) to build the park, carving out a 200-acre oak hammock out of the 5,000 acres he owned between Flamingo Road and U.S. 27 in what was then rural southwestern Broward County. Architects and interior designers commissioned by Weiss worked on the park for two years before its opening, carefully examining Civil War era photos to perfect the architecture and design of the Old West.
Weiss bought a 19th-century steam locomotive in Pennsylvania and two paddle-wheel boats built in Miami, Florida for the park as well as refurbished antique fire engines and a Wells Fargo stagecoach. Gandy dancers laid almost a half-mile of narrow gauge railroad track for a train to carry visitors around the park. Weiss also dredged a lake and a canal for the paddleboats to ferry visitors from the parking lot into the park. In addition, Weiss surrounded the town at the center of the park with an Indian village, a gold mining area, and a petting zoo with pony rides.[1]