![Angus G](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Angus_G._Wynne%2C_Jr._plaque.jpg)
Angus Gilchrist Wynne Jr. (January 9, 1914 – March 12, 1979) was an American businessman. He was the founder of Wynnewood Shopping Center and community development in
Oak Cliff
Oak Cliff is a neighborhood of Dallas, Texas, that was formerly a separate town in Dallas County; Dallas annexed Oak Cliff in 1901. It has since retained a distinct neighborhood identity as one of Dallas' older established neighborhoods.
Oak C ...
, a residential and commercial district south of downtown Dallas. He also developed the
Six Flags Over Texas
Six Flags Over Texas is a 212-acre (86 ha) amusement park, in Arlington, Texas, east of Fort Worth and west of Dallas. It is the first amusement park in the Six Flags chain, and features themed areas and attractions. The park opened on August 5, ...
,
Six Flags Over Georgia
Six Flags Over Georgia is a theme park located in Mableton, Georgia. Opened in 1967, it is the second park in the Six Flags chain following the original Six Flags Over Texas, which opened in 1961.
Six Flags Over Georgia is one of three park ...
, and
Six Flags St. Louis
Six Flags St. Louis, originally known as Six Flags Over Mid-America, is an amusement park featuring characters and rides from many Warner Bros. films and tv shows such as, Looney Tunes, DC Comics, and formerly Scooby-Doo. It is located in Eureka ...
theme parks in Texas, Georgia, and Missouri. He was CEO of Great Southwest Corp and Great Southwest Industrial District in
Arlington, Texas. Angus Wynne Jr. later started Wynne Enterprises, conceptualizing one of the first water amusement parks in Galveston, Texas, but died before his dream could be developed.
Angus Jr. was the son of Angus G. Wynne Sr. of Texas and Nemo Shelmire Wynne, born in The Plains, Upper East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. His father and grandfather practiced law in
Wills Point
Wills Point is a city in Van Zandt County, Texas, United States. The population was 3,524 at the 2010 census.
History
Founded in 1873, Wills Point gets its name from an early American settler, William Wills, who had arrived in the area ''circa'' ...
until his family moved to
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
around 1928. Angus G. Wynne Sr. was the first President of the
State Bar of Texas.
Family
His brother Bedford S. Wynne, was one of the initial owners and founders of the
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...
professional football franchise, along with
Clint Murchison Jr.
His son Angus G Wynne III is the owner of Wynne Entertainment in Dallas and has been a producer of music events since 1968.
His son
Shannon Shelmire Wynne is an American restaurateur living in Dallas, TX. He is best known for the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium, 8.0 Bar, Flying Fish, Meddlesome Moth and others.
Education
Wynne attended
Highland Park High School and graduated from there in 1931. Wynne attended the
Lawrenceville School
The Lawrenceville School is a coeducational preparatory school for boarding and day students located in the Lawrenceville section of Lawrence Township, in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. Lawrenceville is a member of the Eight Scho ...
, then
Washington and Lee University
, mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future"
, established =
, type = Private liberal arts university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $2.092 billion (2021)
, president = William C. Dudley
, provost = Lena Hill
, city = Lexington ...
in Lexington, Va. from 1934–1935, before receiving a B.A. from
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...
in 1938. During their time at UT, Wynne and his brother Bedford S. Wynne became brothers of the Texas Alpha chapter of the
Phi Kappa Psi
Phi Kappa Psi (), commonly known as Phi Psi, is an American collegiate social fraternity that was founded by William Henry Letterman and Charles Page Thomas Moore in Widow Letterman's home on the campus of Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pen ...
fraternity, as was their father Angus Wynne Sr., one of the chapter's founders in 1904.
He worked on Texas oil fields from 1938 to 1940 when he received an ensign's commission in the Navy. In the Navy, he was awarded six service stars for service in the European and Asiatic theaters during WWII.
Six Flags Over Texas
Following a visit to the recently opened
Disneyland
Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...
in
Anaheim, California
Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most ...
, Wynne decided that his home state of
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
should have a local park for entertainment. Planning for such a place began in 1959, under the leadership of Wynne and the
Great Southwest Corporation, along with the backing of various
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
investors. Construction on the park, and its next door neighbor, the Great Southwest Industrial Park, began in August 1960. Wynne first intended to name the park "Texas Under Six Flags" until his wife notified him that "Texas ain't under nothing."
The "six
flags" originally represented the six countries that have governed Texas: France, Spain, Mexico, The
Republic of Texas, The
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...
, and the United States of America.
Wynne subsequently expanded Six Flags in 1967 with a second original park, Six Flags Over Georgia, which is located just outside Atlanta, Georgia, and finally Six Flags over Mid America (now Six Flags St. Louis), in Eureka Missouri, just outside St. Louis in 1971.
The
Six Flags
Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an American amusement park corporation, headquartered in Arlington, Texas. It has properties in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Six Flags owns the most theme parks and waterparks combined of any a ...
company eventually acquired numerous other properties and is currently the world's largest regional theme park chain.
With the significant cost of developing a park from the ground up becoming prohibitive, the company began acquiring parks with significant potential, but to date, had been less successful than those of Six Flags.
AstroWorld, built by Judge Roy Hofheinz in
Houston, Texas, was the first park to be acquired in 1975. Two years later, the company went on to purchase a
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
park developed by the Hardwicke Companies and designed by Warner LeRoy (son of
Wizard of Oz director, Mervyn LeRoy), called
Great Adventure
Six Flags Great Adventure is an amusement park located in Jackson, New Jersey. Owned and operated by Six Flags, the park complex is situated between New York City and Philadelphia and includes a water park named Hurricane Harbor. It first ope ...
. The last park that Wynne would see acquired in his lifetime under the Six Flags name was California's
Magic Mountain (outside
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
) in 1979. Wynne died that same year and although he was no longer associated with the company at the time of his death, Six Flags would eventually acquire numerous other properties and become the world's largest regional theme park chain.
Civic Involvement
Angus Wynne's civic involvement included developmental work for the
University of Texas
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
,
Baylor University Medical Center
Baylor University Medical Center (Baylor Dallas or BUMC), part of Baylor Scott & White Health, is a not-for-profit hospital in Dallas, Texas. It has 1,025 licensed beds and is one of the major centers for patient care, medical training and rese ...
and
Children's Medical Center of Dallas. He also worked with the Cotton Bowl Council, the
State Fair of Texas
The State Fair of Texas is an annual state fair held in Dallas at historic Fair Park. The fair has taken place every year since 1886 except for varying periods during World War I and World War II as well as 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It ...
and the
National Conference of Christians and Jews
The National Conference for Community and Justice is an American social justice organization focused on fighting biases and promoting understanding between people of different races and cultures.
The organization was founded in 1927 as the Natio ...
.
Honors
State Highway 360 through Arlington is officially designated the Angus G. Wynne Jr. Freeway although it is rarely referred to as such.
References
External links
Parktimes -- The History of Six Flags over TexasSFOT-Source.com -- Your Ultimate Guide To Six Flags Over TexasSix Flags Saint Louis fan site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wynne, Angus G.
1979 deaths
1914 births
American amusement park businesspeople
American people of Welsh descent
American real estate businesspeople
Businesspeople from Texas
People from Dallas
Six Flags
University of Texas at Austin alumni
20th-century American businesspeople
People from Kaufman County, Texas
People from Wills Point, Texas