{ "id": "ep1bq12qg0", "slug": "six-flags-over-texas-ep1bq12qg0", "title": "Six Flags Over Texas", "updated": "2026-10-21", "topic_path": [ { "id": "places", "label": "Places and geography", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places" }, { "id": "places.sites", "label": "Parks, protected areas, and geographic heritage sites", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places.sites" }, { "id": "places.sites.amusement-theme-parks", "label": "Amusement, theme, and water parks", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places.sites.amusement-theme-parks" }, { "id": "places.sites.amusement-theme-parks.alpha-s-to-w", "label": "Titles S to W", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places.sites.amusement-theme-parks.alpha-s-to-w" }, { "id": "places.sites.amusement-theme-parks.alpha-s-to-w.alpha-l-to-si", "label": "Titles L to Si", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places.sites.amusement-theme-parks.alpha-s-to-w.alpha-l-to-si" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1946.places.sites.amusement-theme-parks", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000: Amusement, theme, and water parks", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.places.sites.amusement-theme-parks", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.places", "label": "Places and geography", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.places" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.places.sites", "label": "Parks, protected areas, and geographic heritage sites", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.places.sites" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.places.sites.amusement-theme-parks", "label": "Amusement, theme, and water parks", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.places.sites.amusement-theme-parks" } ] }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.places.sites.amusement-theme-parks", "label": "United States · 2021 and later: Amusement, theme, and water parks", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.places.sites.amusement-theme-parks", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021", "label": "United States · 2021 and later", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.places", "label": "Places and geography", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.places" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.places.sites", "label": "Parks, protected areas, and geographic heritage sites", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.places.sites" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.places.sites.amusement-theme-parks", "label": "Amusement, theme, and water parks", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.places.sites.amusement-theme-parks" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Six Flags Over Texas, the original Six Flags park, opened August 5, 1961 in Arlington, Texas, founded by Angus G. Wynne Jr. and named for six flags that flew over Texas; 205 acres, 14 coasters, partnership-owned.", "snippet": "Six Flags Over Texas, the original Six Flags park, opened August 5, 1961 in Arlington, Texas, founded by Angus G. Wynne Jr. and named for six flags that flew over Texas; 205 acres, 14 coasters, partnership-owned.", "node": "places.sites.amusement-theme-parks.alpha-s-to-w.alpha-l-to-si", "markdown": "# Six Flags Over Texas\n\n**Six Flags Over Texas** is a 205-acre theme park in [Arlington, Texas](https://www.edgepedia.org/arlington-texas), located between Dallas and Fort Worth just off Interstate Highway 30 and State Highway 360. It opened on August 5, 1961 as one of the first theme entertainment centers in the United States, gave the [Six Flags](https://www.edgepedia.org/six-flags) chain its name, and today operates as part of Six Flags Entertainment Corporation with more than 100 rides, shows, and attractions, including 14 roller coasters.[1](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/six-flags-over-texas) • [2](https://www.sixflags.com/overtexas)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Opened | August 5, 1961, with a reported 8,374 visitors on opening day[1](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/six-flags-over-texas) |\n| Founder | Angus G. Wynne, Jr., a Texas oil man and real estate developer; initial investment of $10 million on a 105-acre tract[1](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/six-flags-over-texas) • [2](https://www.sixflags.com/overtexas) |\n| Name | Represents the six flags that have flown over Texas: Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America, and the United States[1](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/six-flags-over-texas) |\n| Size and rides | 205 acres; more than 100 rides, shows, and attractions, including 14 roller coasters such as Tormenta Rampaging Run, New Texas Giant, and Titan[1](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/six-flags-over-texas) • [2](https://www.sixflags.com/overtexas) |\n| Ownership | Six Flags Entertainment Corporation owned approximately 54.1% of the Texas limited partnership interests as of December 31, 2024, and operates the park under a partnership arrangement running to 2028[3](https://legalclarity.org/who-owns-six-flags-over-texas-the-partnership-explained/) • [4](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1999001/000199900126000048/fun-20251231.htm) |\n| Notable safety event | A 52-year-old Dallas woman was killed on the Texas Giant roller coaster in 2013; the park redesigned restraint-bar pads and seat belts and added a test seat at the ride's entrance[5](https://apnews.com/article/e4e3c0554e73231f00cfbe2ef3776955) |\n| Chaperone policy | Since September 2024, children under 15 must be accompanied by someone over 21 after 4 p.m.[6](https://www.axios.com/local/dallas/2024/09/09/six-flags-texas-chaperones-minors) |\n\n## Origins and founding\n\nThe park was the brainchild of Angus G. Wynne, Jr., a [University of Texas at Arlington](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-texas-at-arlington) graduate (then North Texas Agricultural College) who served in the Navy during World War II and then entered the real estate business with partners. Wynne conceived a massive industrial park in the Arlington/Grand Prairie area, which he called the Great Southwest Industrial District. When the district struggled financially in its early years, he proposed a sporting complex to draw visitors; during planning, a family visit to [Disneyland](https://www.edgepedia.org/disneyland) in Anaheim inspired him to build a theme park with a Texas theme instead.[1](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/six-flags-over-texas)\n\nConstruction began in August 1960 on a 105-acre tract between [Arlington](https://www.edgepedia.org/arlington) and Grand Prairie, backed by a $10 million initial investment that many local leaders and businesspeople doubted would succeed. The park's grand opening on August 5, 1961 reportedly drew 8,374 visitors. By the end of that first year the owners had committed another half million dollars to new attractions, including a \"city\" depicting Texas's Spindletop oil-boom era, an expanded lake, live entertainment, and the jungle-themed Skull Island.[1](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/six-flags-over-texas)\n\nThe park's six original themed sections each referenced one of the historic governments that had ruled Texas: Spain, Mexico, France, Texas, the United States, and the Confederacy.[7](https://amusementtoday.com/backissues/AT-Feb-2017-LoRes.pdf) Replicas of historic places carried Texas Historical Commission markers, including a replica of Fort St. Louis (established 1685), a Boom Town with 1920s oil rigging, an antique hand-carved carousel, and a railroad demonstration with original nineteenth-century narrow-gauge track.[1](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/six-flags-over-texas)\n\n## The flags controversy\n\nThe Confederate national flag, the \"Stars and Bars,\" flew at the park alongside the five other national flags until 2017, when all historic national flags, including those at the entry mall, were replaced by American flags. The change drew criticism from visitors who saw theme parks as a medium for teaching history, but it continued a movement away from direct ties to Texas history that had been underway at the park for decades.[8](https://magazine.texasarchitects.org/2022/03/07/a-theme-park-under-six-flags/)\n\n## Growth and attractions\n\nBy 1972, just over a decade after opening, the park had grown to more than ninety rides and attractions, a 300-foot oil derrick, and numerous theaters and auditoriums, and it recorded two million annual visitors. Expansion continued through the 1980s and 1990s with larger and more thrilling roller coasters. In its first thirty years the park received forty million visitors, and in 2011 it was the number one paid tourist attraction in the southwestern United States.[1](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/six-flags-over-texas)\n\n**Current lineup.** The park's roller coasters include New Texas Giant and Titan, and in 2026 it opened [Tormenta Rampaging Run](https://www.edgepedia.org/tormenta-rampaging-run), which the park describes as the tallest, fastest, longest, and first-and-only giga dive coaster in the world.[2](https://www.sixflags.com/overtexas) Other signature rides include Batman: The Ride, a suspended looping coaster with five inversions located next to [Mr. Freeze](https://www.edgepedia.org/mr-freeze), and the family-oriented Bugs Bunny Boomtown section for young children.[9](https://static.sixflags.com/website/forms/sfot_fact-sheet.pdf) The adjacent Hurricane Harbor Arlington water park, with attractions such as the Surf Lagoon wave pool, operates alongside the theme park.[10](https://www.sixflags.com/overtexas/attractions/surf-lagoon)\n\nThe park's seasonal calendar runs from weekends in March through May, daily from June through [Labor Day](https://www.edgepedia.org/labor-day), and weekends through early November, with a \"Holiday in the Park\" festival between [Thanksgiving](https://www.edgepedia.org/thanksgiving) and [New Year's Eve](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-years-eve).[1](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/six-flags-over-texas)\n\n## Ownership and corporate history\n\nThe park was originally owned and operated by the Great Southwest Corporation, and it was founded partly as a money-making scheme to support the surrounding commercial development.[1](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/six-flags-over-texas) Unlike most Six Flags parks, Six Flags Over Texas has always been held through a partnership structure: a company set up to own, but not operate, the park, with Six Flags Entertainment Corporation controlling day-to-day operations while investors hold the remaining ownership percentage.[3](https://legalclarity.org/who-owns-six-flags-over-texas-the-partnership-explained/)\n\nAs of December 31, 2024, Six Flags Entertainment Corporation owned approximately 54.1% of the Texas limited partnership interests. Under the merger agreement that combined Six Flags with [Cedar Fair](https://www.edgepedia.org/cedar-fair) (closed July 1, 2024), the Combined Company assumed obligations regarding the \"Partnership Parks,\" Six Flags Over Georgia and Six Flags Over Texas, with the Texas obligations continuing until 2028 and an election regarding the park required by December 31, 2025. In January 2026 the company announced it would not exercise its option to buy out the remaining partners, continuing the existing ownership contracts.[3](https://legalclarity.org/who-owns-six-flags-over-texas-the-partnership-explained/) • [4](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1999001/000199900126000048/fun-20251231.htm)\n\nThe July 2024 merger created a combined company worth more than $3.5 billion operating 27 amusement parks, 15 water parks, and nine resort properties across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, trading under the ticker FUN.[11](https://apnews.com/article/3c7cb2fcce6b3125385fdedb1539199c)\n\n## Role in Arlington's economy\n\nSix Flags Over Texas anchors Arlington's Entertainment District, alongside [AT&T Stadium](https://www.edgepedia.org/at-and-t-stadium), Globe Life Field, Hurricane Harbor, and the National Medal of Honor Museum. More than 15 million visitors come to Arlington each year, and visitor spending supports the city's sales tax base, which nearly doubled from $48.8 million in 2005 to an estimated $97 million in 2025, helping the city keep property tax rates low for two decades.[12](https://www.arlingtontx.gov/News-Articles/2025/June/How-Entertainment-District-Growth-Helps-City-Provide-Core-Services?OC_EA_EmergencyAnnouncementList_Dismiss=d6384cea-be50-47fe-925b-431c024cdd64) Arlington visitor spending reached a record $4.5 billion in 2023, supporting nearly 27,600 jobs and generating $341 million in state and local tax revenues.[13](https://www.stayarlington.com/media/economic-impact/)\n\nThe park's parent company has also felt economic headwinds. Arlington-based Six Flags Entertainment estimated that 400,000 fewer people visited its theme parks in the three months ending July 2, 2023 because of heat waves across the South.[14](https://www.axios.com/local/dallas/2023/10/19/summer-heat-texas-economy)\n\n## Safety record and regulation\n\nA fatal accident occurred in 2013, when a Dallas woman, aged 52, fell out of the Texas Giant coaster after coming loose from her seat. Six Flags responded by redesigning restraint-bar pads and seat belts and adding a test seat at the ride's entrance so guests could check whether they fit safely.[5](https://apnews.com/article/e4e3c0554e73231f00cfbe2ef3776955) The federal government has no regulatory authority over roller coasters and comparable attractions at big amusement parks like Six Flags; instead, states provide oversight, and following a distinct 2025 death at [Six Flags Over Georgia](https://www.edgepedia.org/six-flags-over-georgia), Georgia's insurance and safety commissioner carried out a thorough investigation.[15](https://apnews.com/article/a9ce45f681772b828f7b5d3c59d010d1) Industry-wide, a study conducted for the International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions found 4.3 injuries per million park attendees in 2011 across 383 parks.[16](https://time.com/3028060/the-summers-newest-roller-coasters-bring-steep-thrills/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Claude Cox, revised by Rebecca Wallisch, \"Six Flags Over Texas,\" Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/six-flags-over-texas)\n2. [Six Flags Over Texas official website](https://www.sixflags.com/overtexas)\n3. [Who Owns Six Flags Over Texas? The Partnership Explained, LegalClarity](https://legalclarity.org/who-owns-six-flags-over-texas-the-partnership-explained/)\n4. [Six Flags Entertainment Corporation Form 10-K (fiscal year 2025), SEC EDGAR](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1999001/000199900126000048/fun-20251231.htm)\n5. [Roller coaster rider's death puts spotlight on the safety of ever more thrilling rides, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/e4e3c0554e73231f00cfbe2ef3776955)\n6. [Six Flags of Texas now requires chaperones for minors, Axios Dallas](https://www.axios.com/local/dallas/2024/09/09/six-flags-texas-chaperones-minors)\n7. [Amusement Today, February 2017](https://amusementtoday.com/backissues/AT-Feb-2017-LoRes.pdf)\n8. [A Theme Park Under Six Flags, Texas Architect Magazine](https://magazine.texasarchitects.org/2022/03/07/a-theme-park-under-six-flags/)\n9. [Six Flags Over Texas fact sheet](https://static.sixflags.com/website/forms/sfot_fact-sheet.pdf)\n10. [Six Flags Over Texas – Surf Lagoon](https://www.sixflags.com/overtexas/attractions/surf-lagoon)\n11. [Cedar Fair and Six Flags will merge to create a playtime powerhouse in North America, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/3c7cb2fcce6b3125385fdedb1539199c)\n12. [How Entertainment District Growth Helps City Provide Core Services, City of Arlington](https://www.arlingtontx.gov/News-Articles/2025/June/How-Entertainment-District-Growth-Helps-City-Provide-Core-Services?OC_EA_EmergencyAnnouncementList_Dismiss=d6384cea-be50-47fe-925b-431c024cdd64)\n13. [Economic Impact, Arlington Convention & Visitors Service](https://www.stayarlington.com/media/economic-impact/)\n14. [The brutal summer cost the Texas economy, Axios Dallas](https://www.axios.com/local/dallas/2023/10/19/summer-heat-texas-economy)\n15. [Six Flags closes 9 North American roller coasters after families watch man fall to his death, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/a9ce45f681772b828f7b5d3c59d010d1)\n16. [The Summer's Newest Roller Coasters Bring Steep Thrills, Time](https://time.com/3028060/the-summers-newest-roller-coasters-bring-steep-thrills/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Places and geography › Parks, protected areas, and geographic heritage sites › Amusement, theme, and water parks › Titles S to W › Titles L to Si*\n\n*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/six-flags-over-texas-ep1bq12qg0", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/six-flags-over-texas-ep1bq12qg0.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Six Flags Over Texas\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/six-flags-over-texas-ep1bq12qg0. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Six Flags Over Texas](https://www.edgepedia.org/six-flags-over-texas-ep1bq12qg0)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/six-flags-over-texas-ep1bq12qg0](https://www.edgepedia.org/six-flags-over-texas-ep1bq12qg0). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Six Flags Over Texas\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/six-flags-over-texas-ep1bq12qg0. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Six Flags Over Texas, the original Six Flags park, opened August 5, 1961 in Arlington, Texas, founded by Angus G." }