'LATER YEARS'
of
SUNDOWN TOWN
AMUSEMENT PARK

In the summer of 1961 it was established as a
summer camp for kids, ages 6-12 by Reno's YMCA.

July 27, 1963
Sundown Town sold in excess of $150,000 to
Morningside Development Corp. of Sacramento.
NOTE:
It had been offered to Washoe County for $250,000
but they took too long to decide if they wanted to
buy it or not and it was sold to the corp. instead.
Why they sold out at only $150,000 to the corporation?
Who knows, anyway, continuing with the article.....
The former owner, Buster Keaton, Jr., has left
the town he built in 1960. Keaton is the son of
the former film star of the same name. It won't be
known for at least 3 months if the corporation
might just lease it 'as is' to another organization.
The sale includes 80 acres of pine covered land and
the town itself, which includes a livery stable-home
horse stalls, 3 cabins, a restaurant, a bar and a jail.
Joy Lake is not included in the sale.
The town's water supply comes from wells.
The town was created in 1960 as a tourist attraction
by Keaton, whose real name is Bob Talmadge.
Fire burned the restaurant and bar in 1963.
The current population of Sundown Town is three---
a caretaker, his wife and one dog.

August 15, 1965 thru August 14, 1966
COME BACK FOR SUNDOWN TOWN
It was bought by two Stateline, Nevada men,
Wayne Olson and Jim Hopkins and they had
planned to open it again that summer of 1965 as the
Western City amusement park, but their plans never
materialized. It became a summer camp again for kids.

February 16, 1975
BOOM TOWN TO GHOST TOWN
(Site now owned by a Reno physician, bought in 1972)
'Sundown Town' had its day, now it's just a nice picnic spot.
The Dr. had dreamed of making it into a health spa, but plans
never got off. Thieves were continually stealing the antiques.
So the Dr. had an auction and sold the artifacts there. Then it
went back to quiet times with a caretaker there and 2 boarding
horses. The Dr. shunned any offers of putting a high rise motel
there or a trailer park. He was 'horrified' of anything like
that being put on the site. So it sits, a tiny, unincorporated,
unofficial "town" in the pine woods that whooped it up for a
couple of years and then closed its doors.
It doesn't go totally unused either. While the Dr. works long
hours in Reno to support it, the caretaker and his wife enjoy
the setting of solitude where wildlife roams and the wind croons
the trees. Some summer weekends, the Dr's colleagues and
families enjoy times there. He even talked of possibly retiring
and building a home there. (It was sold again around 1976.)

May 1, 1983
SUN-UP AT SUNDOWN TOWN
Bought 7 years before this news clipping came out,
by Jacques Morvay and his son Alan.
After much money and renovations they turn it into a
Holistic Health Center in 1984 till its closure in 1989.

There wasn't any more newspaper info after 1989.
The librarian said that it's most likely now privately owned.

Here's the url of a story written about mustang horses and
there is mention of horses being delivered to Sundown Town
Amusement park. It's towards the end of the story.
(There's no link back to here)
MUSTANGS

Page created July/August 2006