A Look Back at Stagecoach Stop, Irish Hills

Stagecoach Stop in the Irish Hills filled a void that was left when Frontier City shut down.

Frontier City was the brainchild of Irish Hills resident Ivan Hunt. With his partner Maynard Minier, they constructed their fantasy cowboy town dubbed “Frontier City” in 1959 on M-50 south of US-12. When Frontier City finally opened in 1960, families were already rabid to check it out, fueled by over 25 different western TV shows on the three major networks.

It had all the establishments you saw on shows like “Gunsmoke” - a bank, blacksmith, general store, jailhouse, livery stable, and saloon. There were stagecoach holdups, street shoot-outs, buffalo, longhorn steer, Indian rituals, gold mine tours, a picnic area, fort, and paddlewheel boat rides.

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Frontier City was also able to lure famous western performers to show up: Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Roger Miller, Tex Ritter, Ferlin Husky and many others.

Then, in 1974, it all came crashing down when Frontier City closed for good, thanks in part to Stagecoach Stop opening in 1965. When the Stop opened, it was easier for people to find and easier to see alongside the road as you passed by. An eventual nine-year decline in customers forced Frontier City to close in 1974.

Stagecoach Stop had basically all the same things previously listed and available at Frontier City. It closed in 2007 and Cowboy Creek Lodge was added as a novelty place to spend the night.

In 2022, filmmaker Nate Thompson has been working on turning Stagecoach Stop into a year-round ‘HorrorTown’. The internet is quoted as saying “the full, permanent year-round "Horrortown" project experienced delays and has been an ongoing development rather than a consistently open, finalized attraction”.

So while we await this latest development project of Stagecoach Stop, scroll down and take a nostalgic trip to what it once was in the gallery below.