The Lingering Ghost of FORT DELLS: A Western-Themed Amusement Park in Wisconsin Dells.

The article focuses on Fort Dells, a Western-themed amusement park in Wisconsin Dells that operated from 1959 to 1991. Conceived by Ben Olson and Stanton Peter Helland, the park featured a full-scale replica of a frontier fort and themed areas including Frontierland, Indianland, Children's Farm, and Adventureland, drawing over 250,000 visitors at its peak in 1972. Fort Dells reflected mid-20th-century American fascination with Old West mythology, incorporating local Ho-Chunk Native American culture in a friendly, collaborative manner. The park declined as Wisconsin Dells shifted toward waterpark tourism in the 1980s and 1990s, leading to its closure and redevelopment, though remnants of the park's structures and landscape still exist. The article situates Fort Dells within broader patterns of tourist development around natural attractions and changing leisure preferences.