Legend City Exhibit at the Sunnyslope Historical Society

Come join Sunnyslope Historical Society and Museum is celebrating Legend City’s 60^th Anniversary.  Legend City opened on June 29, 1963.  It hosted a number of attractions such as the Lost Dutchman Mine ride, Cochise’s Stronghold river ride, Sky Ride, Penny Arcade, Miniature Golf, Log Jammer, and Iron Horse on the Legend City Railroad. TV show hosts Wallace and Ladmo appeared at Legend City virtually every weekend. Vonda Kay Van Dyke, later Miss America 1965, performed a popular ventriloquism act at the park’s Golden Palace Saloon. It was also home to the ‘Pipeline’, a skateboarding skate park added in 1965.^[2]

Originally planned as an Old West theme park by Phoenix artist Louis E. Crandall, Legend City endured a series of closings, bankruptcies and ownership changes throughout the 1960s and 1970s.  It was never a significant financial success. However; Legend City is still remembered fondly and held in high regard by locals who knew and frequented the park in its heyday.

The land was eventually purchased in 1982 by the Salt River Project, which closed the park permanently after the 1983 season. Legend City was then dismantled to the ground to make way for new corporate offices for SRP.

We invite you to visit the Legend City exhibit at the museum during our Fall Opening on Saturday, September 16 from 2 pm to 4 pm.

If you can’t make our Fall Opening, don’t miss the Legend City exhibit!  It will be on display during our regular hours after September 16th: Tuesday, Thursday or Friday 10 am – Noon.